SURVEY FINDINGS 1. Employment Situation 1.1 Among the 2,018 respondents, 1,532 graduates (75.9%) were full time employed. The distribution of graduates by Employment Status is shown in Table 1. Table 1: Distribution of Graduates by Employment Status in 2013 2017 Year 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 No. of Respondents 2,018 2,037 2,051 2,031 1,533 Full time employed 75.9% 77.9% 80.4% 81.0% 79.3% Further studies 14.7% 11.7% 10.4% 12.6% 15.1% Self employed 0.6% 1.3% 2.0% 1.7% 0.8% Temporarily employed 0.8% 2.0% 1.2% 0.3% 0.6% Part time employed 2.5% 1.7% 2.0% 0.6% 0.8% Not seeking employment 1.5% 1.7% 1.6% 0.8% 0.5% Still seeking employment 1.6% 2.2% 1.0% 0.8% 1.3% Others (e.g., emigrated or returned to homeland) 2.4% 1.5% 1.4% 2.2% 1.6% 1.2 The overall still seeking employment rate was 1.6%, 0.6 percentage point lower than 2.2% of last year. Among these 33 graduates, the main reasons for still seeking employment were: Reasons for unemployment No. of graduates Still looking for a job of choice 15* Started applying for jobs only recently 8 * Out of 15 respondents who were still looking for a job of choice, 4 reported that he/she had received a job offer for full time employment but did not accept it. 1.3 The distribution of employment situation by school is shown in Table 2. Details of employment situation by program are shown in Appendix 1. Table 2: Distribution of Employment Situation by School in 2017 School IPO SBM SENG SHSS SSCI No. of Respondents 100 662 744 42 470 Full time employed 84.0% 87.5% 76.9% 57.1% 58.1% Further studies 13.0% 6.2% 13.0% 31.0% 28.1% Self employed 1.0% 0.5% 0.5% 2.4% 0.6% Temporarily employed 0.0% 0.2% 1.1% 2.4% 1.3% Part time employed 0.0% 0.9% 2.6% 4.8% 4.9% HKUST GES2017 UG 1
School IPO SBM SENG SHSS SSCI Not seeking employment 0.0% 1.2% 1.5% 0.0% 2.3% Still seeking employment 0.0% 0.9% 2.2% 2.4% 2.1% Others (e.g., emigrated or returned to homeland) 2.0% 2.7% 2.3% 0.0% 2.6% IPO: SBM: SENG: SHSS: SSCI: Interdisciplinary Programs Office School of Business and Management School of Engineering School of Humanities and Social Science School of Science 1.4 The distribution of employment situation by program is shown in Appendix 1. 2. Employment Sector 2.1 Among the five employment sectors, Commerce and Business remained the largest sector employing 840 graduates (57.8%). (Tables 3 and 4) Table 3: Distribution of Full time and Self employed Graduates by Employment Sector Employment Sector 2017 2016 No. % No. % Commerce and Business 840 57.8 879 55.6 Engineering and Industry 422 29.0 484 30.6 Education 95 6.5 109 6.9 Government and Related Organizations 53 3.6 50 3.2 Community and Social Services 43 3.0 58 3.7 Total Respondents 1453 100 1,580 100 Table 4: Distribution of Employment Sector by School in 2017 Employment Sector IPO SBM SENG SHSS SSCI No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % Commerce and Business 53 66.3 471 85.6 190 34.7 15 68.2 111 43.7 Engineering and Industry 16 20.0 26 4.7 320 58.5 1 4.5 59 23.2 Education 4 5.0 14 2.5 15 2.7 3 13.6 59 23.2 Government and Related Organizations Community and Social Services 3 3.8 26 4.7 12 2.2 3 13.6 9 3.5 4 5.0 13 2.4 10 1.8 0 0.0% 16 6.3 Total Respondents 80 100 550 100 547 100 22 100 254 100 HKUST GES2017 UG 2
2.2 The distribution of employment sector by program is shown in Appendix 2. 3. Job Nature 3.1 Of those in full time employment, the three most popular types of job nature were Engineering (24.4%), Administration / Management (16.3%), and Banking / Finance (15.3%). Table 5 illustrates the distribution of the job nature from 2013 to 2017. Table 5: Distribution of Full time and Self employed Graduates by Job Nature 2013 2017 Job Nature 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 No % No % No % No % No % Engineering 363 24.4 349 22.1 332 21.5 356 22.0 284 23.7 Administration / Management 243 16.3 291 18.4 232 15.0 179 11.1 134 11.2 Banking / Finance 228 15.3 216 13.7 197 12.7 226 14.0 125 10.4 System Analysis & Computer Programming 159 10.7 207 13.1 207 13.4 203 12.5 161 13.4 Accounting / Auditing / Taxation 134 9.0 140 8.9 171 11.1 165 10.2 124 10.4 Marketing / Sales 109 7.3 99 6.3 134 8.7 140 8.7 126 10.5 Scientific / Research Work 61 4.1 61 3.9 50 3.2 41 2.5 52 4.3 Teaching / Lecturing 55 3.7 61 3.9 86 5.6 78 4.8 58 4.8 Service Work 27 1.8 38 2.4 15 1.0 34 2.1 9 0.8 Clerical Work 20 1.3 17 1.1 15 1.0 33 2.0 17 1.4 Health / Medical Services 18 1.2 17 1.1 12 0.8 8 0.5 31 2.6 Aircraft & Marine 14 0.9 11 0.7 11 0.7 14 0.9 4 0.3 Merchandising / Purchasing 12 0.8 18 1.1 14 0.9 23 1.4 9 0.8 Insurance / Real Estate Services 11 0.7 13 0.8 24 1.6 24 1.5 31 2.6 Protective Services 9 0.6 13 0.8 8 0.5 14 0.9 10 0.8 Economic, Statistical & Mathematical Work 8 0.5 12 0.8 12 0.8 20 1.2 1 0.1 Others 5 0.3 4 0.3 2 0.1 7 0.4 0 0.0 Architecture / Surveying 3 0.2 3 0.2 2 0.1 6 0.4 4 0.3 Art & Design 2 0.1 0 0.0 4 0.3 7 0.4 0 0.0 Legal Services 2 0.1 0 0.0 1 0.1 2 0.1 0 0.0 Work in Religion 2 0.1 0 0.0 2 0.1 1 0.1 6 0.5 Author / Journalist 1 0.1 3 0.2 6 0.4 5 0.3 8 0.7 Interpretation & Translation 1 0.1 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 0.1 0 0.0 Social Services 1 0.1 0 0.0 1 0.1 4 0.2 1 0.1 Advertising / Public Relations 0 0.0 3 0.2 8 0.5 22 1.4 3 0.3 Media & Communication 0 0.0 3 0.2 1 0.1 5 0.3 0 0.0 Total 1,488 100 1,579 100 1,547 100 1,618 100 1,198 100 HKUST GES2017 UG 3
3.2 The major job nature categories among the five Schools/Office are shown below. (Table 6) Table 6: Distribution of Job Nature by School in 2017 Job Nature IPO SBM SENG SHSS SSCI No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % Engineering 13 16.0 3 0.5 332 59.5 0 0.0 15 5.7 Administration / Management 22 27.2 129 23.0 34 6.1 6 25.0 52 19.8 Banking / Finance 21 25.9 168 29.9 15 2.7 4 16.7 20 7.6 System Analysis & Computer Programming 8 9.9 27 4.8 109 19.5 1 4.2 14 5.3 Accounting / Auditing / Taxation 4 4.9 122 21.7 2 0.4 0 0.0 6 2.3 Marketing / Sales 3 3.7 65 11.6 13 2.3 5 20.8 23 8.7 Scientific / Research Work 0 0.0 0 0.0 10 1.8 1 4.2 50 19.0 Teaching / Lecturing 3 3.7 10 1.8 9 1.6 2 8.3 31 11.8 Others 7 8.6 38 6.8 34 6.1 5 20.8 52 19.8 Total 81 100 562 100 558 100 24 100 263 100 3.3 The distribution of job nature by program is shown in Appendix 3. 4. Gross Monthly Income 4.1 The calculation of gross monthly income takes into account basic monthly salary as well as the commission, bonuses and allowances (e.g. meal and transportation allowances). (Tables 7, 8 and 9) Table 7: Gross Monthly Income of Full time and Self employed Graduates by School (HKD) School IPO SBM SENG SHSS SSCI Overall Mean 20,716 21,922 18,098 22,007 15,908 19,354 Median 20,000 17,500 17,333 15,030 15,000 17,000 Minimum 8,500 9,000 9,000 11,000 9,000 8,500 Maximum 50,000 87,667 70,000 49,445 70,000 87,667 Table 8: Gross Monthly Income of Full time and Self employed Graduates by Employment Sector (HKD) Employment Sector Mean Median Commerce and Business 20,263 16,500 Engineering and Industry 18,018 18,000 Education 15,014 14,025 Government and Related Organizations 26,493 25,725 Community and Social Services 16,894 15,000 Overall 19,354 17,000 HKUST GES2017 UG 4
Table 9: Gross Monthly Income of Full time and Self employed Graduates by Major Job Nature (HKD) Job Nature Mean Median Engineering 18,383 18,000 Administration / Management 18,626 16,250 Banking / Finance 29,142 25,000 System Analysis & Computer Programming 17,551 16,500 Accounting / Auditing / Taxation 15,488 14,500 Overall 19,354 17,000 4.2 A list of employers of respondents by program is shown in Appendix 4. 4.3 The gross monthly income distributions of the respondents by program / by employment sector / by job nature are shown in Appendix 5a, 5b and 5c. 4.4 Figure 1 shows the distribution of the gross monthly income of full time and self employed graduates from 2013 to 2017. Figure 1: Gross Monthly Income of Full time and Self employed Graduates in 2013 2017 Salary (HKD) 20,000 19,000 18,000 17,628 18,040 19,017 19,354 17,000 16,000 15,000 14,000 13,000 16,388 14,083 15,167 15,523 16,078 17,000 12,000 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Year Mean Gross Monthly Income Median Gross Monthly Income No. of Respondents: 1,183 (2013) 1,577 (2014) 1,530 (2015) 1,568 (2016) 1,457 (2017) HKUST GES2017 UG 5
5. Work Base and Frequent Travel Location 5.1 Among the 1,493 full time and self employed respondents who reported their work base location, 1,460 graduates (97.8%) reported that they were based in Hong Kong, whereas the rest (33 graduates or 2.2%) reported that they were based outside Hong Kong. (Table 10) Table 10: Work Locations and Travel Destinations of Full time and Self employed Respondents Number of respondents reported their work base location 1,493 (100%) Based in Hong Kong 1,460 (97.8%) Based outside Hong Kong 33 (2.2%) Number of respondents who were based in Hong Kong 1,460 (100%) Not required to travel frequently outside Hong Kong for work 1,306 (89.5%) Required to travel frequently outside Hong Kong for work 154 (10.5%) The major travel destinations include: 119 Mainland China 108 UK 6 Singapore 5 Others: 35 Number of respondents who were based outside Hong Kong 33 (100%) The major work base locations include: 25 (75.8%) Mainland China 16 Singapore 6 USA 3 Others: 8 (24.2%) HKUST GES2017 UG 6
6. Number of Job Offers 6.1 Out of the 1,491 respondents, 60.9% had more than one, 28.6% had more than two, 10.2% had more than three and 1.0% had seven or more offers. (Figure 2) Figure 2: Number of Job Offers No. of Job Offers Received Number of Job Offers (2017 vs 2016) Eight or more Seven No. of Respondents: 1,491 (2017) 1,580 (2016) Six Five Four Three Two One Percentage 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight or more 2017 39.1% 32.3% 18.4% 6.3% 2.2% 0.7% 0.3% 0.7% 2016 38.0% 30.4% 21.3% 5.9% 2.7% 0.9% 0.3% 0.6% 6.2 Details of number of job offers by program are shown in Appendix 6. HKUST GES2017 UG 7
7. Time of Obtaining First Job Offer 7.1 By June 2017, 67.9% of the 1,491 respondents had received the first job offer. The percentage rose to 86.4% by August and 97.1% by October. (Figure 3) Figure 3: Cumulative Percentage of Full time and Self employed Graduates Already Having Job Offers by Month Percentage 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Month Before Jun Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Overall (Respondents: 1,491) IPO (Respondents: 81) SBM (Respondents: 565) SENG (Respondents: 558) SHSS (Respondents: 24) SSCI (Respondents: 263) 7.2 Details of time of obtaining first job offer by program are shown in Appendix 7. HKUST GES2017 UG 8
8. Graduates Pursuing Further Studies 8.1 Among the 2,018 respondents, 296 (14.7%) decided to pursue further studies leading to a formal qualification. (Table 11) Table 11: Graduates Pursuing Further Studies Total number of respondents pursuing further studies 296 (100%) IPO 13 (4.4%) SBM 41 (13.9%) SENG 97 (32.8%) SHSS 13 (4.4%) SSCI 132 (44.6%) Number of respondents pursuing further studies in Hong Kong 189 (100%) The major education institutions include: 175 (92.6%) HKUST 127 (67.2%) The Chinese University of Hong Kong 26 (13.8%) The University of Hong Kong 22 (11.6%) Others: 14 (7.4%) Number of respondents pursuing further studies outside Hong Kong 107 (100%) The major destinations include: 89 (83.2%) USA 50 (46.7%) UK 24 (22.4%) Germany 8 (7.5%) Japan 4 (3.7%) Canada 3 (2.8%) Others: 18 (16.8%) Number of respondents with reported fields of studies 276 (100%) The most popular fields of studies are: 216 (78.3%) Engineering & Technology 115 (41.7%) Science 76 (27.5%) Business & Management 25 (9.1%) Others: 60 (21.7%) Number of respondents with reported levels of degree of programs 282 (100%) The levels of degree of the programs they enrolled in are: Postgraduate Diploma or Certificate 14 (5.0%) Bachelor s Degree 4 (1.4%) Master s Degree (Not by Research) 110 (39.0%) Master s Degree (by Research) 115 (40.8%) Doctoral Degree (by Research) 39 (13.8%) HKUST GES2017 UG 9
9. Internship Experience 9.1 Out of the 1,939 respondents, 1,592 graduates (82.1%) had internship experience during their study in the University. The remaining 347 graduates (17.9%) had no internship experience. 9.2 Respondents with internship experience were asked to indicate the internship mode and the number of internship that they had taken. (Table 12) Table 12: Internship Experience Number of respondents who reported their internship experience 1,939 (100%) Had taken internships during their studies 1,592 (82.1%) IPO 90 (4.6%) SBM 596 (30.7%) SENG 556 (28.7%) SHSS 34 (1.8%) SSCI 316 (16.3%) Had not taken internships during their studies 347 (17.9%) Number of respondents who had taken internships during their studies 1,592 Had full time internship experience 1,088 (100%) With 1 internship / job 507 (46.6%) With 2 internships / jobs 320 (29.4%) With 3 or more internships / jobs 261 (24.0%) Had part time internship experience 1,015 (100%) With 1 3 internships / jobs 890 (87.7%) With 4 6 internships / jobs 102 (10.0%) With 7 or more internships / jobs 23 (2.3%) 9.3 Details of internship experience by program are shown in Appendix 8. Note: Due to rounding of data, percentages in above tables may not add up exactly to 100% or equivalent total percentage of a sub category. HKUST GES2017 UG 10