Media Releases

Graduates of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) are in hot demand in the generally improving job market in Hong Kong, results from the University’s latest Graduate Employment Survey revealed.

As high as 96.3 per cent of PolyU’s 2,000-plus first-degree graduates of 2004 were engaged in employment or full-time study, while 2.3 per cent were still seeking employment last December, six months after their graduation (another 1.3 per cent were not seeking employment, not staying in Hong Kong or in the others catergory). A majority of 83.3 per cent of the employed graduates secured their first job offer by the end of August.

It is worth noting that graduates from four programmes reported a 100 per cent employment rate. They are, namely, the BSc (Hons) in International Shipping and Transport Logistics, BA (Hons) in Financial Services, BSc (Hons) in Optometry, and BSc (Hons) in Nursing.

Mrs Dorinda Fung, Director of Student Affairs, commented: "Evidently, such excellent employment rates reflect the keen demand for high quality professionals in these emerging areas of the Hong Kong economy."

The average monthly salary of all employed first-degree graduates rose by 4.8 per cent from $9,644 of the previous year to $10,108. Among them, graduates in the health and social services fields were the most highly paid, with an average pay of $19,919 for Nursing graduates, $15,494 for Optometry graduates, and $12,619 for Social Work graduates.

Employment that offered the highest salary increases over the previous year were in the areas of Optometry, Financial Services, and Translation and Chinese (see tables below).

Meanwhile, the percentage of degree graduate respondents pursuing further studies remained steady at 5.3 per cent, compare to 5.8 per cent for the previous year.

These figures are based on the feedback collected from 2,050 of the total 2,241 first-degree students who graduated last June, representing a response rate of 91.5 per cent. The Survey, conducted by the Student Affairs Office, reviewed the employment status of all full-time degree, sub-degree and postgraduate graduates as of 31 December 2004.

For sub-degree graduates, an encouraging 98 per cent of the 1,435 respondents were engaged in work or full-time study, while about 2 per cent were still seeking employment

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by December 2004. Among those employed, 72.5 per cent secured their first job offer by the end of August 2004. Their average monthly salary remained steady at $10,278, compared to 10,421 for the previous year.

For the 38.1 per cent of sub-degree graduate respondents who continued their academic pursuit, PolyU remained the most popular choice as in the previous year.

For higher degree graduates, 81.7 per cent of the 197 respondents were engaged in work or full-time study, while 16.7 per cent were not seeking employment, not staying in Hong Kong or in the others catergory, and 1.5 per cent were still seeking employment by end of last December.

For the employed higher degree graduates, 71.1 per cent secured their first job offer by end of August. The average monthly salary of the employed higher degree graduates rose to $13,229 by 4.3 per cent from $12,680 of the previous year.

Mrs Fung added: "We are gratified that the majority of graduates in employment indicated that their training in PolyU was relevant to their work. This once again re-affirms the practicality of our programmes in relation to career development, which was rated highest among all tertiary institutions in an independent survey conducted earlier on."