Dear The Real Singapore,
Something I'd like to share with the readers about the recent "NUS hiring 28% Singaporeans only for Pol Sci faculty". I graduated from NUS FASS 2 years back and i majored in political science. Me and my clique of study buddies discussed about this particular issue over some coffee today after work. It was a random meet-up to talk-cock-sing-song but we decided to talk about this when one of my mates brought it up.
There is a good reason why our universities lack Singaporean teachers. Because no one has either time nor talent to be one. See, most of my friends also did extremely well in NUS, just like I did. So we got very good jobs within ministries and private sectors. Our starting salaries were around 4k. One of us even bagged a job with a 6k starting salary at a bank.(Yes, banks do hire political science grads). Yes, we do have passion for our major, BUT, it is hard work to become a good professor. One has to take up a PhD. Which will take an extra 4 years. Phds are actually free for everyone, and Phd students also get a stipend of 2.6k/mth because they teach undergraduate tutorial classes.
But 2.6k/mth is so little compared to what we can earn outside. Those who actually want to continue in academia usually have no talent, those who graduate with only a pass degree or a third class and can't get a job outside. But NUS will soundly reject them because they are not as smart as us. Not only that, even after you get a Phd, you only start at around 4-5k/mth and you have to research and lecture at the same time. Salary increase is also very little as compared to what we get outside.
You can't really blame NUS for hiring foreign profs. To be honest, I do believe its the government's fault. Reason being that the cost of living is sky-high here. If the cost of living was lower, I would have pursued my doctorate and continued cultivating my passion in political science. But because I want to earn as much as I can and get married, I need to choose a more practical route. So please guys, don't hate on NUS, she really doesn't have much of a choice, she wants to hire the best educators for her students too. Think about the students, my best mentors in NUS were foreigners, not because Im an Sarong Party Boy, but because they were really good. What we need to do is lower the cost of living so that people, university graduates or otherwise, can pursue our PASSIONS and not just work for money. How many great talents like artists and musicians had to put away their canvas in order to survive? Lower the cost of living, and definitely you will see a much more creative and vibrant Singapore.
Terry Sim