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Some say Singapore's service standards can be improved but for many foreign students, the Republic is the place to be trained in the service industry.
The Manpower Ministry has issued 3,000 training passes so far this year to foreign students on short-term attachments, mainly in the service sector.
That's twice the number given out two years ago.
21-year-old Nathaniel Cepe is on a 6-month attachment in Singapore.
The finance undergraduate from the Philippines is learning about the retail industry from the basics and gets S$450 as a monthly allowance while on training.
This is just half the pay of his full-time counterpart.
He said: "I am here not to earn, but to learn things. That I put in my mind, so I take it positively."
From dealing with people to stock-taking, he has learnt many things from his so-called first job.
Nathaniel said: "Fixing up things, which is very basic that we're having in the shop, like doing the lights. Before I'm not doing that but with this training, I try to open my mind."
Irene Lian, Nathaniel's Employment Agent, said: "We would have constant meet-ups with employers, with the establishments, as well as the students to gather feedback, how they're getting used to themselves over at the current attachments."
But not everyone is eligible for such attachments.
Ms Lian said: "In terms of screening process, we'd ensure that students meet a certain criteria or a certain level of language ability. In the Philippines, we would give talks and seminars to 3rd and 4th year students in the universities and colleges which are accredited with CHED, or the Commission of Higher Education in the Philippines. And all our students must possess and apply for overseas training certificates before they depart the Philippines."
Agents say foreign students coming to Singapore for attachments have doubled in recent years.
One agent, GMP Recruitment Services recruited 200 such students in 2003 and the number hit 400 this year.
A total of 1,000 foreign students have been in Singapore on attachments over the last 2 years, with 70 percent from the Philippines and 30 percent from China.
Other than coming to work on attachments, the number of foreigners coming here to study hospitality has also gone up.
Private schools say enrolment has gone up by 20 to 30 percent over the past 2 years.
And at the Tourism Academy@Sentosa, a 2-year diploma course in hospitality and tourism business is hugely popular with foreigners.
One of the students there is 17-year-old "Sweet" Khine Mon Kyaw from Myanmar, whose parents are footing the S$25,000 course fees.
Khine Mon Kyaw said: "In my country we also get the private schools like this but it's not government schools and they're not very well-known in my country because it's private. So many people are interested in Tourism@Sentosa."
Yong Kit Mun, Course Manager, Hospitality and Tourism, Tourism Academy@Sentosa, said: "When we look at the service standards in Singapore, I know there are a lot of brickbats being thrown at the level. But I think generally our service levels are improving."
"And for the internationals to come in, a lot of them do benefit from being in a cosmopolitan society. Right here for example they have a chance to study amongst some 10 nationalities. From that angle, I think in terms of service we're all learning from each other which is part and parcel of the training here."
Chew Hua Seng, CEO, Hartford Institute, said: "We get a pool of people who are more genuinely interested to come into the tourism and hospitality whereas Singaporeans tend to take it as a job. We should actually develop the sense to want to come into hospitality, to come into this industry."
Industry experts couldn't agree more.
Heinrich Grafe, GM, Conrad Centennial, said: "On of our biggest challenges in the industry is that not enough Singaporeans would like to work in the service industry. The industry's growing, we have a lot of new hotels being planned. Over the next 5 to 10 years, we have the so-called 2 integrated resorts coming up and thousands of employees are needed. I don't think Singapore can supply the number of employees to work in that area. For that, I don't think these students will take over jobs from Singaporeans. They can complement the workforce here." - CNA/ch
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