Having fake degree from a degree mill is acceptable in Singapore?

Below is part of an article posted in the TRE about a staff from IDA with a Masters degree from a degree mill. The netizens are questioning IDA whether this is a crime. So far no official comment from any ministry on this.
 
‘IDA says staff’s MBA not a relevant certificate for her working in IDA
 
On 2 Apr, TRE wrote to IDA for comments on the matter and asked if it is aware that one of their staff has obtained her MBA from a degree mill. TRE did not get any reply from IDA.
 
However, netizens continue to pursue IDA relentlessly on its Facebook page and on Tues (14 Apr), IDA finally replied.
 
IDA said that her Bachelor’s degree is from a reputable university and she was recruited based on the Bachelor degree. Her MBA was “not a relevant certificate for her position in IDA”, it added.
 
IDA further said, “We would like to share that Nisha has been a committed team member and contributed in her role as an Applications Consultant for the past year.”
IDA’s full reply on its Facebook page [Link]:

Education standards in Singapore universities going up again

In Singapore, you pay a price for quality. And anything that is good is expensive, priced according its quality. The SMRT is one of the best in the world. And it is so good that it is raising its fares again to match its quality of service. Fares will go up on 5 Apr 15.

Yesterday it was also announced that all the universities will be raising their fees again for the next academic year. So if you put one and one together, the quality of our universities will go up again. You pay for quality. The quality is in the price you pay. The increases range from 1% to 8% depending on the courses and the institutions. This must be good news for the students eyeing for a world class university education in Singapore. The rankings of these universities will definitely notch up a few more rungs. At the rate they are raising the quality of university education by raising the fees respectively, soon they will be better than Harvard or MIT or Cambridge and Oxford. And of course they will have equally high course fees to match.

But just be careful about job opportunities. It was reported in the media yesterday that 60% of the local professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMET) that lost their jobs could not be reemployed because they lacked the skills set. And they are the products of our world best universities.

And the lack of skills set is not confined to the older graduates from our universities. Fresh graduates also have difficulties finding jobs due to lack of skills set. I quote a comment in a local social media, the TRE,

‘crush the PAP:
so if PMETs young and old have lack of skills, then what are the polytechnics and SIM, SMU, NTU,NUS teaching in their degree and diploma syllabuses??? all outdated stuff???
its like the educational institutions are still teaching DOS and Word Star and the outside world is using windows 8 and office 2013.
if you are a fresh grad from Poly and NUS and outside interviewers are telling you you lack the relevant skills, then what the f*ck are these educational institutions teaching???
education ministry sleeping and daydreaming still isn’t it??’

I can guarantee the students that the qualities of these universities are definitely world class. But I am not sure world class in what ways. The students must be mentally prepared that getting a degree from these universities does not guarantee them a good job as the experience of the PMETs and the fresh graduates are anything to go by.

My recommendation is to go the neighbouring countries, 3^rd World also good, if they want to get the right skills set to be employable. An easier and cheaper way is to buy from the degree mills. Not to worry, many of them are getting good jobs here and doing very well. Everyone is sleeping and no one is checking. Be street smart, get a degree, fake also can, that can get a job, not a world class degree that no employers want or worst, did not teach you the relevant skills set to get a job.

What do you want, a good degree from a world class university that cannot get a job or a fake degree or from an unknown university but can get you a job? It is very easy to con or cheat the talented employers in this 1^st World city. They did not know what the hell is going on. They are too busy counting their money. See the ‘Do Not Disturb’ signs on their doors?

60% PMETs lacked relevant skills

‘In a statement yesterday (2 Apr), NTUC said that 60% of PMETs face difficulties in their jobs mainly due to a lack of relevant skills.
This is according to a survey NTUC conducted with 894 PMETs last year.
“We found that many face challenges pertaining to their current skill sets and knowledge,” said Mr Patrick Tay, assistant secretary-general and director of NTUC’s PME Unit.
The top 3 difficulties in their job, cited by PMETs in the survey, are:

1. IT challenges
2. Lack of relevant training or industry specific skill-set
3. Need to constantly upgrade their skills due to changes in regulations or market conditions’

The above report in TRE also quoted a 23 year old fresh graduate who was unable to get a job as well. ‘She said, “I know I have the certificate. I just finished my education, so I thought I should be okay, I should be getting a job. I did not know what was going on, I did not know what was wrong. So I decided that I needed to find somebody who can actually help me out and tell me where I was going wrong.”’

And what happened, she sought help and what did they do to help her get a permanent job? They helped to polish her resume and interview skills and that was it. What have these got to do with her skills set? And why is it that 60% of PMETs who were good enough to be employed as PMETs but got sacked and then no longer have the relevant skills. And all the jokers and fakes and dunno what from God knows where have the skills sets to be employed here, have the skills sets that our PMETs did not have?

You believe in that? You believe in the 3 reasons given above? You believe that the PMETs could only become taxi drivers and security guards and people from the 3^rd World are better trained than them, from the little villages or streets of 3^rd World countries? Excuse me, what does PMET meant? It means Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians! No skills set?

How did they become PMETs if they have no relevant skills set? The whole world, including 3^rd World countries knew what kind of skills sets needed to work in Singapore and could produce them to meet our needs but our world class education system could not produce people with the skills set needed by our employers!