Then it sounds like it's for ministries which are deemed sensitive. I have gone through g50 (category one) clearance in my first job - my department only hired Singaporeans because of sensitive nature. When I switched to a ministry, didn't have to do it because not deemed to be handling sensitive stuff.

For those expensive scholarships to top foreign colleges maybe, almost anyone can get a local one.

whats the avg salary for someone working in a stat board for 2 years with a diploma? im at the $19xx mark... am i underpaid?

need more details...

are u male / female? under what diploma scheme did u join as?

Will it be easy to join the civil service in my late 20s or early 30s in a junior or entry level role because of career switch?

Will the promotion pace catch me up so that I am closer to my peers?

Really deliberating whether to attempt a career path change.

Not difficult to join at junior/entry level if you have a good degree.

May not catch up in terms of promotion unless you have high CEP (which in turn is influenced by your academic results, type of degree, class of honours, initial years of work performance, etc).

I am a male 31 years old, holding an 2nd lower degree from University of Dublin (Business Admin). Am I able to use the certification to apply for a Management Executive Scheme position or do I have to revert to my local engineering diploma for Executive Scheme.

Differences in starting pay:

Degree Management Executive Scheme $2,270 - $2,700
Diploma Executive Officer Scheme $1,560 - $1,700

Prior to that I've been working in private sector (sale and retail) earning 2k per month.

is it kaplan? on paper, maybe is recognized, but in practice, doubt so.

It is from Kaplan, also I would like to ask which organisation should I be looking at if I'm looking for backend jobs.

I think you mean University College Dublin. Not University of Dublin. University of Dublin (or sometimes called Trinity College Dublin) is the better of the two. I believe kaplan only offers degrees from UCD. Its like SIM and SMU. Can be confusing but one is much better than the other.

UCD degrees are recognised in civil service. I know an army regular who was sent to take his degree from unisim although he had a UCD degree already. Apparently they dont recognise it. I know UOL is recognised for some stat boards and ministries. But I'm pretty sure UCD is not.

RMIT is also recognised by some stat boards. I have a friend who grad from RMIT working in Singapore Poly as an admin staff. Singapore poly is a stat board.