You are not LAE by nature even if u graduated from your degree/diploma program
Yes you might be exempted from some of the
CAAS papers provided if your school programs/modules are included.
But still need to clear some more
CAAS papers, aircraft type rating papers, practical skills and on-the-job-training for 3 years in Singapore.
CAAS licence is a valid LAE licence where if you decided to go any other countries to work, only have to take convertion papers. So doesn't matter if u have any other country's licence, as long as is it ICAO (Internation Civil Aviation Organization) recognition you can convert to the countries that you are working in.
Even if you are having degree, you will still need to compete with diploma holders to get the LAE post. After all when you joined the company as an apprentice whether diploma/degree, you are still a new bird.