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Most employers are satisfied with the performance of local first degree and sub-degree graduates, according to the findings of an opinion survey commissioned by the Education Bureau on students who graduated from publicly funded first degree programmes and all locally accredited sub-degree programmes in 2006. The part on sub-degree graduates has been extended to cover graduates of self-financing programmes for the first time.
"Similar to the results of the last survey, about 95% of the surveyed employers rated the performance of first degree graduates as average or above, including 69% who indicated that they were satisfied with graduates' performance. It shows that employers are generally positive about the abilities of our local degree graduates in the workplace," a government spokesman said today (April 12).
The overall work performance score of the first degree graduates of the University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded institutions in this opinion survey is 3.59 on a five-point scale, meaning that they have met the employers' required standard and sometimes have exceeded it. This is the highest score obtained in the five rounds of surveys conducted so far. The performance scores of the nine major aspects are all over 3.2, indicating that the graduates' performance was better than "generally meeting employers' required standard".
"As regards sub-degree graduates, about 91% of the surveyed employers considered the work performance of the sub-degree graduates as average or above, including 58% who were satisfied with their performance," the spokesman said.
The overall work performance score is 3.41 on a five-point scale. The performance scores of the nine major aspects are all over 3, showing that the graduates' performance was better than "generally meeting employers' required standard".
The survey sought to capture information on nine broad aspects of performance, namely, English language proficiency, Chinese language proficiency, work attitude, analytical and problem-solving abilities, numerical competency, information technology literacy, inter-personal skills, management skills and technical skills. Of these nine aspects, work attitude and inter-personal skills were perceived by employers as the two most important aspects of competence for both first degree graduates and sub-degree graduates.
The results show that the first degree graduates performed well in the areas of English language proficiency, Chinese language proficiency, and work attitude. Compared to the results of the previous rounds of the survey, there was a significant improvement in graduates' Putonghua expression and comprehension. Graduates performed best in information technology literacy among the nine aspects. Similar to the results of the previous survey, employers saw room for improvement in the graduates' management skills.
As regards sub-degree graduates, they performed well in the areas of information technology literacy, Chinese language proficiency, work attitude and inter-personal skills.
The survey's data was collected through questionnaires completed by the immediate supervisors of the sampled graduates. The relevant employers were identified from the information from graduate employment surveys conducted by individual institutions and recruiting government departments. Around 8,000 questionnaires were sent out in this survey, representing a 50% increase over the last survey. Three thousand valid responses were received, covering about 2,000 local first degree graduates and over 1,000 sub-degree graduates from 1,100 companies, organisations and government bureaux/departments. The response rates were 55% (for first degree graduates) and 54% (for sub-degree graduates).
The executive summary of the report can be downloaded from www.edb.gov.hk/index.aspx?nodeID=677&langno=1 .
Ends/Monday, April 12, 2010
Issued at HKT 17:25
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