IT'S a fierce online battle for top talent as Singapore's three universities roll out their recruitment juggernauts.

In reaching out to a tech-savvy audience, the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU), have made the Internet a focal point of their admissions campaigns.

Besides the usual print advertisements, NUS and NTU have also used the advertising machinery of Google, Yahoo and MSN as well as social networking sites such as Facebook.

SMU got the thumbs up from five out of the 10 readers aged 19 to 33 my paper spoke to - for their zesty testimonial online videos.

SMU employed local advertising firm Moving Bits to produce the 19 clips. In them, staff, alumni and employers of SMU graduates rhapsodise about the versatility and adaptability of its cohorts.

These videos run for about a minute each and cost a total of $40,000.

Five readers said the advertisements were "hip and interesting", with junior college graduate Malcom Ong, 19, singling out SMU's "unconventional" tactic of using the videos as links to its faculties.

Some potential applicants, however, were not wowed by the online blitz. JC graduate Iven Peh, 19, for instance, felt the online information was too brief.

Overall, SMU spent "a few hundred thousand dollars" for its campaign this year, said Mr Alan Goh, director of the office of undergraduates admissions.

NUS and NTU declined comment on their budgets.

Besides registering a huge jump in the number of total applicants - from 54,900 in 2005 to 81,900 last year - the admissions departments for the three universities have also expanded.