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Following is a question by the Hon Sin Chung-kai and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph W P Wong, in the Legislative Council today (May 23):
Question:
The Internship Programme (IP) operated under the Innovation and Technology Fund since July 2004 aims to provide funding support to universities for employing fresh graduates from tertiary institutions as interns to assist in research and development projects funded under the Matching Grant for Joint Research Scheme of the University-Industry Collaboration Programme or the Innovation and Technology Support Programme. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) given that the Government had indicated that it would review IP two years after its implementation, whether the Government has completed the review; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) whether it has studied the reasons for the downward trend in the number of IP applications in recent years (the numbers of applications received in the three financial years starting from 2004-2005 being 39, 12 and six respectively); if it has, of the results of the study; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) whether it has made any assessment on whether IP can achieve its objective of nurturing professional research experts, which includes gathering relevant information (such as the percentage of the number of interns who continued to work in the innovative technology sector among those who had completed the Programme successfully, their scope of work and employers' names) and examining the reasons for interns giving up the relevant research work; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President:
(1) In late 2006/early 2007, the Administration issued questionnaires to the six participating local universities of the Internship Programme (IP) to collect their views and recommendations regarding the Programme's operation for reference in formulating its roadmap. All the universities opined that IP had achieved its aims, i.e. to provide opportunities for fresh graduates from tertiary institutions to acquire research/industrial experience at local universities/companies by participating in a project under the Innovation and Technology Support Programme (ITSP) or the Matching Grant for Joint Research Scheme (UIM) of the University-Industry Collaboration Programme (UICP); to stimulate the interest of fresh graduates in applied R&D activities and help create a larger pool of research talents; and to further support local universities in undertaking applied R&D activities by funding interns for their ITSP or UIM projects. The universities also agreed that IP should be continued and they offered many useful opinions over the Programme's eligibility criteria, internship period and the remuneration for interns. The Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) is examining these opinions in detail.
(2) The Administration noticed the downward trend in the number of IP applications and therefore has also consulted the universities on the causes of the trend through the questionnaire survey. Having summarised the universities' views, we believe that the decrease in the number of applications was probably due to the following factors:
(a) Some of the project coordinators or principal investigators of the R&D projects approved after the launching of IP may not have sufficient understanding of the Programme. In this regard, we have strengthened the promotion of IP to the project coordinators and principal investigators of the R&D projects. After the promotion, nine applications have been received in the recent two months.
(b) IP was launched in July 2004 when the unemployment rate of Hong Kong was 6.8%. Since then, the economic situation and the employment market have improved gradually. According to the latest figures announced by the Census and Statistics Department, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from January to March 2007 was 4.3% (provisional figure). Today, the employment prospects of the university graduates have much improved and the opportunity for them to take up jobs other than those in R&D has also increased.
(c) Taking into account the prevailing level of market salary for university graduates in 2004, the Administration decided to provide a maximum funding support of $9,000 of the monthly basic salary plus employer's contribution to the Mandatory Provident Fund for each intern. With the continuous improvement of the local economy in the past three years, the employment conditions of the labour market may have also improved. The desire of university graduates to join IP may be affected as a result.
(3) According to the returns of the questionnaires submitted by the six participating universities, all of them considered that the Programme has achieved its three aims, including the aim to stimulate the interest of fresh graduates in applied R&D activities and help create a larger pool of research talents. Also, as revealed in the evaluation reports submitted by the interns upon completion of their internship, over 90% of them agreed that IP had aroused their interest in R&D work while 60% of them considered their industrial experience had been strengthened after participating in the Programme. Besides, ITC has also conducted a survey targeted at the interns who have successfully completed their internship. Over 60% of the respondents indicated that they chose to continue to work in the R&D-related field in universities or the business sector. As to those who dropped out during the internship period, their evaluation reports revealed that the reasons for the drop-out were mostly related to their pursuance of further studies or being offered other employment opportunities.
Ends/Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:51
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