Where you go to university can significantly impact your way of life, networks, and future career. Doing so in Singapore means opening the door to a world-class education with career opportunities. This is why:

Singapore Is the Most Livable City in Asia

Global rankings testify to the livability in Singapore. Mercer’s 2019 Quality of Living Ranking, which assessed 39 factors like political-economy stability, healthcare, public transport, and education, listed Singapore as the top livable city in Asia and 25th globally.

Most recently, in 2021, Singapore clinched the top spot in Asia in HSBC’s Expat Explorer League Table of Best Places to Live and Work. In an interview with Investment International, Ian Yim, head of wealth and international at HSBC Bank Singapore, explained the results: Expats feel safer and more secure in the country, mainly because of the clean and safe public spaces.

Singapore also scored significantly higher than the global average for having an “excellent education.” Two of the country’s local universities are ranked in the top 100 of the world. Multiple international institutions are present in the education scene, including but not limited to ESSEC Business School, INSEAD, and Yale.

Singapore Is Safe and Accessible

There is no doubt that safety is the primary concern for parents, especially as it might be their child’s first time traveling and living alone.

As such, it may be reassuring to know that besides having an excellent public transport system and English as its national language, which makes it easy to adapt, Singapore is also ranked the third safest country in the world, after Copenhagen and Toronto.

The current COVID-19 pandemic is also largely under control, thanks to strict safety distancing and effective contact tracing measures.

Career Opportunities Abound in Singapore

With state-of-the-art infrastructure and abundant skilled talent, safety has drawn companies worldwide to Singapore. Ranked by the World Bank as one of the top 10 best places to do business, the country is home to 80 of the world’s top 100 tech companies and over 37,400 multinational corporations.

The presence of these firms is indicative of opportunities. ESSEC’s Master in Strategy & Management of International Business (SMIB) students have found internships in companies like Accenture, Amazon, and Deloitte, just to name a few.

Academic Director of ESSEC’s SMIB program, Anne-Flore Maman Larraufie, highlights that the SMIB is perfect for those who aspire to have Asian-related careers. Given Singapore’s positioning as a critical gateway to Asia, there is no better place to gain a global perspective from an Asian lens than from here in Singapore.

The SMIB program in Singapore also boasts a dedicated mentorship program for students, with established mentors from various industries.

Despite the pandemic, 100 percent of graduates from the SMIB program find a job within six months of graduation, with 73 percent securing jobs even before graduation.

Given these numbers, it is no wonder that the SMIB retains its prowess as 3rd best Master in Management worldwide and 1st for return on investment by QS rankings 2022.

The Potential of Asia Found in Singapore

Southeast Asia boasts a consumer market worth US$1.2 trillion—more considerable than India’s and close to matching that of coastal China. Pre-pandemic, the ASEAN region was forecasted to become the fourth-largest economy by 2030, and today, ASEAN’s new economies continue to show fast-paced growth despite the effects of the pandemic.

Studying in Singapore means gaining a foothold in this fast-growing region. It is worth noting that according to the Minister of Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing, the country is not satisfied with merely being the “gateway” to Asia.

He declared: “We aspire to be the critical node in business’s global value chains, production chains, and supply chains, where we add value, serving not just as a location to trade through; where we are the leverage point—rather than the pass-through point—that enables regional and global business to grow exponentially and succeed.”

With these big aspirations come even more significant opportunities—the ones who choose Singapore as a study destination will be well-positioned to seize them.