File photo of the National University of Singapore.

SINGAPORE: Graduates from the National University of Singapore (NUS) are the 16th most employable in the world, according to a global survey.

NUS was the only Singapore university to rank among the world's 20 best universities for employment in the Global University Employability Ranking. It was also placed fourth in Asia in the same survey. 

Last year, NUS was ranked 15th in the world and third in Asia.

NUS deputy president of academic affairs and provost Tan Eng Chye said the ranking was a "demonstration of how NUS’ transformative education, which stresses academic rigour, experiential learning, global exposure and real-world relevance, provides our graduates with strong employment prospects".

“NUS will continue to vigorously pursue our strategy of nurturing future-ready graduates and build upon our efforts to prepare our students for a dynamic, fast-changing workplace of the future. We will also further develop the University into an institution for lifelong learning, where our graduates could continually upgrade their skills and develop new competencies to excel in their careers in Singapore and around the world,” Prof Tan added.

The annual global survey by Times Higher Education measures how universities perform on graduate employability. This year, it was conducted with 2,500 recruiters from 22 countries, and a second panel of 3,500 international managers around the world. Survey participants were asked to define what they look for in graduates and choose the universities they believe produced the most employable graduates, according to Times.

The companies that had participated in the survey covered all major business sectors, had more than 5,000 employees each and recruited more than 50 graduates each year, it added.

Topping the list was California Institute of Technology, followed by Harvard University and Columbia University.

Source: Channel News Asia