SINGAPORE : ITE graduates continue to be highly sought after by employers, according to the latest Graduate Employment Survey for 2007.

It said 93 percent of ITE graduates found jobs within six months. This was four percentage points higher than the year before.

Average starting salaries were also higher, with many new graduates earning S$1,390 a month.

Separetely, a new ITE College West at Choa Chu Kang will be completed in 2010. This campus will focus on the service industry.

It will be the second ITE Comprehensive College, after College East in Simei. A third, the ITE College Central in Ang Mo Kio, is expected to be ready in 2012.

The Choa Chu Kang campus will offer a range of courses on service, hospitality and retail. This is on top of the core subjects of engineering, infocomm technology and business.

The new campus will have a convention centre, restaurants and a car showroom to serve as training sites for hospitality students.

The ITE College West is also the first education sector project that is funded through a public-private partnership.

An international consortium, Gammon Capital, has clinched the open bid to build the campus. - CNA /ls