dude, nus admin don't earn that much. maybe the acad staff do.

NUS admin has 6 grades (degree holders) for non-degree holders, their pay are according to union rules.

fresh grad starts at lowest grade and a long serving director of a large and important departant (e.g. IT) is grade 1. grade 1's salary is above $10k per mth. you will be very lucky if you retire at grade 2. a director (junior/small department) of deputy director level. please note that the key directors in NUS (libraries, IT, etc) are almost a decade in their positions. hence promotions at these levels are very rare.

grade 6 on average gets less than 3.5k per mth. bearing in mind the traditional 13mth month is already factored in. increments and bonuses are much lower than civil service.

however some depts like med as in a slightly different scheme and with 13th mth. they are under purview of NUS Health System (includes dentistry).

in short, NUS or university admin are usually paid below market rate. but their quality of life is better than say civil service (more burearcratic) and private sector. if you are a female with no high ambition (and husband can complement towards household income with higher salary), stay in NUS as work life balance should be better. better still keep improving our birth rate.

i know cos i was in NUS admin and moved on to civil service. for money reasons.