Singapore, as a country, has a small surface area of less than 700 km². Lacking in natural resources and agricultural land, Singapore thrived on manufacturing in the early 60s and 70s to grow this little country to an economic powerhouse. The location of Singapore is also advantageous, as the many kilometers of coastline feature natural deepwater ports and the country is situated along important shipping routes, making trade and commerce key parts of the economy in Singapore.

An early establishment of good bilateral relations with neighboring countries and other nations such as USA and Germany, plus a business-friendly environment with political stability and skilled labour, attracted many multi-national companies to set up regional headquarters or facilities in Singapore. The multiple free-trade agreements signed with foreign countries, the active involvement in multinational trade organizations and the openness to globalization are factors that have attracted trade to Singapore.

The industry contributes a significant portion of Singapore’s GDP, with sectors such as manufacturing and petrochemicals being important contributors to the nation’s economy.  The Singapore government has also identified new growth sectors in the areas of aerospace, precision engineering, and life sciences such as bio-sciences and pharmaceutics. Tourism is also important to this island city state, seeking to attract visitors from all over the world with top-class airport, transport and hospitality services.

Industry Information

Most people do not know that given any electronics gadget today – a mobile phone, computer, video game console or a car navigation system, there is a high possibility that part of it was designed or made in Singapore. 2013 economic statistics indicated that the electronics sector contributed 5.3% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  From the 1960’s till now, Singapore’s electronics industry has since grown to become a vital node in the global electronics market.

Singapore – A World Class Electronic Hub

Singapore aims to become a world class innovation-driven electronics hub, providing technology, manufacturing and business solutions and enabling the development of new growth areas. Today, Singapore accounts for 1 out of 10 wafer starts in the world and 40% of the global hard disk media are manufactured from here. Electronics is the major industry underpinning Singapore’s economic growth, it contributes 29% of the total manufacturing value-add.

Employment for the industry stands at 80,000, which is 19% of total manufacturing jobs. In 2013, the electronics sector accounted for 31% of Singapore’s total private sector R&D expenditure. The Singapore government is also raising its R&D budget in recent years, to develop Singapore into one of the world’s most research-intensive countries.

Today Singapore is home to:

• 14 silicon wafer fabrication plants including the world’s top three wafer foundries
• 15 semiconductor assembly and test operations including five of the world’s top six outsourced semiconductor assembly and test companies
• Nine of the world’s top 15 fabless semiconductor companies, and 30 integrated circuit design centres
• Six of the world’s top integrated device manufacturers
• The world’s top three hard disk drive manufacturers
• Four of the world’s top five Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) providers

Our graduates from the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology and Master of Science in Integrated Circuit Design will excel in research and development, planning, design or operational roles.  As graduates’ career progress, the all rounded education provided can also enable them to either remain as technical experts or branch out into other functional roles including marketing and sales, product definition, concept engineering, eventually moving on to the top management in their respective careers.

Due to the great industry and research co-operation with different companies, graduates have the best connections with the movers and shakers in the electronics industry including Broadcom, Qualcomm, Rohde &Schwarz, Lantiq, Infineon Technologies, Xilinx, Marvell, Micron and many more.

Graduates of the Green Electronics program will have extended career opportunities, not only in the electronics manufacturing industry but also in the photovoltaic, low power display, nano and bio material, sensor and communication industry. They may also engage with related research institutions and pursue further studies – the joint NTU/TUM Master degree opens the door for a Ph. D. Both NTU and TUM educate Ph.D. candidates to perform leading-edge, world-class research in variety of field related to inorganic or organic semiconductor devices and systems (e.g. device simulation, MEMs, LED, power devices and bio-/nano- devices). Other universities are also more than happy to admit NTU/TUM graduates into their Ph.D programs.

Industry Information

Singapore is one of the world’s leading energy and chemical hubs with vast contribution to the industry both in terms of output and research. In 2010, the chemicals and chemical products sector contributed S$38 billion of the manufacturing output, a significant rise from S$28 billion in 2009. Singapore is constantly working to stay at the forefront of the industry’s advancement especially with the extensive development of Jurong Island which is an integrated complex that houses many of the world’s leading energy and chemical companies such as BASF, ExxonMobil, Lanxess, Mitsui Chemicals, Shell and Sumitomo Chemicals. Presently, Jurong Island has successfully attracted investments in excess of S$35 billion.

Singapore – Dynamic Chemical Hub

As a leading market player in other areas such as marine and offshore engineering, water treatments and lubricants, Singapore leverages on these strengths to further expand the chemical industry. As such, talent is a key enable for this complex and dynamic industry which Singapore needs a well-trained pool of engineering and management talents as well as skilled technical experts annually.

Graduates from our Master of Science in Industrial Chemistry and Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering possess the ability to enter an exciting and wide range of jobs, be it in technical, research-based or managerial-type positions. The industry relevant curriculums of both our programmes equips our graduates for varied career scenarios which includes a diverse list of employers in the following industries:

1. Pharmaceutical
2. Petrochemical
3. Polymer/paint/semiconductor/materials
4. Food and Beverage
5. Quality control
6. Governmental agencies
7. Research institutes

Graduates specifically from our Master of Science in Industrial Chemistry can also choose to move on to pursuing their doctorate degrees.

TUM Asia’s close relationship with different companies in the respective industries also means that the graduates will benefit from the best connections with companies such as BASF, Siemens, Wacker, Bayer, Novartis, Merck, Procter & Gamble, Lanxess, Linde, Budenheim, Evonik, Clariant to name a few.

BASF is hiring excellent scientists from materials science, (physical) chemistry and engineering to further build the Innovation Campus Asia Pacific. To seek out careers at BASF: http://www.basf.com/careers

Industry Information

Societies and national economics of almost every country are getting increasingly connected with each other. Transportation and logistics systems are the foundations for such globally connected enterprises and economies. The efficiency of these transportation and logistics systems are highly important factors regarding the competitiveness and profitability of a single product, a whole enterprise and even for an entire economy or country.

Singapore – Globally Connected

he World Bank ranked Singapore as the No. 7 Logistics Hub amongst 155 countries globally in the 2018 Logistics Performance Index. The Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) was ranked as Air Cargo Terminal Operator of the Year, while PSA Singapore was named Container Terminal of the Year at the Supply Chain Asia (SCA) 2016 Awards.

Today, 20 of the top 25 global logistics players conduct their operations in Singapore. Most of them, like DHL, Kuehne + Nagel, Sankyu, Schenker, Toll, UPS and Yusen Logistics, have set up regional or global headquarter functions in Singapore. Singapore’s global connectivity is almost unrivalled. As one of the Asia’s largest cargo airports, Singapore’s Changi Airport is served by over 7,400 weekly flights connecting to 400 cities in 100 countries, handling close to 2.15 million tonnes of cargo. The country also boasts the world’s busiest transhipment hub, handling about one-seventh of the world’s container transhipments; more than 120 million TEUs of containers in 2018. Singapore is connected to more than 600 ports in 120 countries worldwide with more than 130,000 ships call annually. Our sea and air ports are readily accessible through a well-planned domestic road network, ensuring that companies based in Singapore are better positioned to serve customers and manage their operating entities, not just in Asia but globally.

This indicates that the demand for an efficiently structured and managed transportation and logistics system is growing continuously. This is especially so when Singapore is the leading aviation hub, a world class integrated chemical hub and has a robust electronics industry. All these require excellent transportation and logistics infrastructure which translates to a high demand for young professionals who are experts in managing, setting up and improving modern transportation and logistics systems that are bound to grow in the future.

TUM Asia’s strong connection with the key players such as DHL, DB Schenker, Pan Asia Logistics, LTA, PTV, SBS Transit, Systra MVA to name a few, implies great opportunities for our graduates in Master of Science in Rail, Transport and Logistics.

Singapore – Locally Connected

Singapore’s land constraints point to a necessary shift towards being car-lite and public transport friendly. Nearly 200 kilometres of track has been laid for Singapore’s rail infrastructure, connecting over 119 train stations on 5 Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and 3 Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines. Daily, over 3.1 million trips are made across Singapore’s rail network. According to the 2015 Fact Sheet issued by the Ministry of Transport in Singapore, Singapore will have doubled her MRT network to 360 kilometers by year 2030, so that eight in 10 households will live within a 10-minute walk of a train station. The Ministry of Transport also outlines the following: by 2030, Singapore’s rail network will be as dense as, if not more dense than, cities like London, New York and Tokyo. It would have built it in just over 40 years, less than half of so of the other cities with a similar rail density.

The introduced Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP) also serves as the framework to to provide commuters with better connectivity, more comfortable journeys, and shorter wait times. In addition, Integrated Transport Hubs (ITHs) at key heartland destinations will continuously be built. Commuters can now wait for buses in air-conditioned comfort and have direct access to amenities within the co-located mall. Other considerations such as bike-sharing services, better cycling paths that are inter-connected across the entire island and solutions to the first- and last-mile problems will be undertaken as well. This points to a need for trained professionals in the rail and transport industry, to continuously provide cutting-edge solutions to Singapore’s public transport systems.