CHAPTER 7: EMPLOYMENT AND ARTICULATION
7.4 However, for reasons explained in Chapter 3 (paragraphs 3.11 to 3.13), the HD qualification have fared better than AD in terms of recognition by employers. Whereas HD, which has a longer history and track record in Hong Kong, is generally considered an exit qualification for vocational or professional development, students and parents generally perceive AD as a bridging qualification to further studies. Moreover, we note that many institutions have geared their promotional efforts of the AD qualification as a stepping stone towards articulation to degree programmes. From Annex J, we note that close to 60% of the HD gradates had joined the employment market, as compared to only some 30% of AD graduates.
Recognition of Sub-degree Qualifications for Employment Purpose 7.5 Recognition of sub-degree qualifications, in particular the AD, has been examined in detail in Chapter 5 of the Phase 1 Review Report.
There are about 26 professional bodies (see Annex K) recognizing the AD qualifications for the purpose of granting exemptions from parts of their professional examinations. Meanwhile, according to graduate surveys conducted by programme providers in the 2005/06 academic year, over 39% of the self-financing sub-degree graduates (including 1,300 AD students and 2,000 HD students) who responded to the surveys had chosen to enter into the job market and secured full-time employment within three months after graduation. The average monthly salary of these graduates was about $8,500. This compares well with the average monthly salary of $7,000 and $12,900 for F.7 students and UGC-funded degree graduates respectively.
Discussion and Recommendations
7.6 The Steering Committee (SC) recognizes that sub-degree education helps upgrade the quality of our manpower, particularly that of the younger generation by equipping them with the necessary knowledge and skills (generic and specialized) and broadening their horizon beyond that of the secondary school leavers. Sub-degree education would thus better prepare our graduates for employment in an increasingly complex
globalised economy. Indeed, employers found AD graduates more mature and diligent, have wider exposure and possess better inter-personal and social skills to meet their job requirements. Some civil service grades, e.g. Police, Customs and Excise, have also targeted AD graduates in their recent recruitment drives.
7.7 There is, unfortunately, still a rather prevalent view in the community that AD is merely a bridging qualification for further studies, and that AD graduates are not yet ready for immediate employment. On the other hand, the majority of AD graduates also aspire to “top-up” their studies immediately after graduation. Whilst acknowledging students’
aspiration for articulation, we consider that further efforts should be made to enhance the recognition of sub-degree qualifications for employment purposes.
(a) Intensifying Publicity Efforts
7.8 To improve understanding of the AD qualification by the business community, the Government organized a “Business for Education Luncheon” in June 2006 to promote the sub-degree qualifications to the business leaders and a “Seminar on Sub-degree Qualifications” in October 2006 to kick-start a direct dialogue between the sub-degree course providers and various business and professional organisations. Many employers and professionals have found these events useful and informative, and expressed interest in engaging in more in-depth discussions with the institutions on issues of common interest. To sustain the momentum, we recommend that the Government should continue to co-organize publicity events with institutions and business organizations to promote better communication and deeper collaboration between them (see also paragraph 7.10 below).
7.9 As for the public sector, the SC considers that Government should take the lead in enhancing recognition for AD qualification, particularly in respect of civil service appointment. Although some departments/grades are already targeting AD graduates in their recruitment exercises, more should be done to ensure that all bureaux/departments are fully aware of the strengths of our sub-degree graduates, the differentiation between AD and HD, and to take this group of graduates into due consideration given the partial lifting of the civil service recruitment freeze.
Recommendation 15: We recommend that the Government should take the lead in enhancing recognition for AD qualifications and should intensify publicity efforts, in conjunction with the institutions, to promote better understanding of the sub-degree qualifications for employment purpose in both the business community and the public sector.
(b) Improving Collaboration between Institutions and the Business Community
7.10 As discussed in Chapter 3, the parties concerned should work together to enhance the employability of our AD graduates. To this end, it is imperative to ensure that the knowledge and skills (generic and specialized) acquired by them are directly relevant to the needs of prospective employers. As revealed in the last Employers’ Survey commissioned by the then EMB on the performance of publicly-funded sub-degree graduates, the employers interviewed have expressed a strong interest in participating in the curriculum development of sub-degree programmes and in the provision of internship/placement opportunities for the students. We fully agree that the dialogue between the business sector and the post-secondary institutions should be broadened and deepened, so that there is continuous and active interaction between the two sides in the early stages of curriculum development and in arranging internship opportunities. We recommend that the institutions should devise mechanisms to involve the business/professional organizations and employers associations on an on-going basis and to seek their input to curriculum development.
7.11 Indeed, many employers are willing to offer short-term job and internship opportunities to sub-degree graduates for both training and longer term employment purposes. We suggest that institutions should actively engage professional bodies, employers’ federations and the business sector in internship arrangements to provide pre-employment job experience for sub-degree students and to improve employers’
understanding of the AD qualification, thereby building up their confidence in the AD graduates. In addition, institutions should put in place programmes for sub-degree students to reach out to and serve the
Recommendation 16: To enhance the employability of the sub-degree graduates, we recommend that the post-secondary institutions should engage in regular dialogues with professional bodies, employers’
federations and the business sector in the curriculum development and internship arrangements to improve employers’ involvement in the development of sub-degree programmes and to provide pre-employment job experience for sub-degree students. We also recommend that sub-degree students be given the opportunities to serve the community so as to broaden their horizon and exposure.
(c) Developing Online Job Information System for Sub-degree Sector
7.12 To sustain the industry-academia collaboration on arranging job placements and internship for sub-degree students/graduates, we propose that an online job information system, similar to the online Joint Institutions Job Information System (JIJIS) established by the UGC-funded institutions, should be developed for the self-financing sub-degree sector. As with JIJIS, the proposed system should enable prospective employers to post openings available to sub-degree graduates and assist sub-degree students in job search. We also recommend that self-financing post-secondary institutions should strengthen career counseling and employment/placement services for their sub-degree students.
Recommendation 17: We recommend that the Government should facilitate the setting up of an online job information system, similar to the JIJIS for UGC-funded institutions, for the self-financing sub-degree sector, and that the self-financing post-secondary institutions should strengthen career counseling and employment/placement services for their sub-degree students.
(d) Gauging Employers’ Opinions and Graduates’ Progression Pathways
7.13 The Government has been conducting employer opinion surveys on a regular basis to gauge the latter’s opinions on the performance of publicly-funded degree and sub-degree graduates. The findings have
been forwarded to the institutions concerned to enable them to refine their curriculum design and programme delivery. We suggest that the surveys should be extended to cover self-financed sub-degree graduates.
Moreover, to examine the progression pathways of sub-degree graduates, EDB would commission tracking or longitudinal surveys on sub-degree graduates. Such surveys will provide valuable information for reference by the Government, the institutions, the business sector, and the community at large.
Recommendation 18: We recommend that regular employer opinion surveys and tracking/longitudinal surveys should be conducted to provide feedback on the sub-degree graduates’ performance and progression pathways for reference by the Government, the institutions, the business sector and the community at large.
Articulation Opportunities for Sub-degree Graduates
7.14 During our consultation session with sub-degree students on the Phase 1 Review Report, they have unanimously urged the Government to provide more publicly-funded senior year places for articulation. There are also complaints about how the senior year places and the First-Year-First-Degree (FYFD) places through the non-JUPAS route in the UGC sector have been allocated.
Discussion and Recommendations
(a) Articulation in Publicly-funded Institutions
7.15 Recognising the aspirations of sub-degree graduates for further studies, the Government has already created or committed to create about 3 800 publicly-funded senior year (Year 2 and Year 3) undergraduate places in the UGC-funded institutions by phases from the 2005/06 to 2010/11 academic years. The creation of these senior year places would provide more articulation opportunities for sub-degree holders to further their studies in the UGC-funded institutions. According to the original programme, there will be about 2 000 Year 2 and Year 3 places in the UGC sector by the 2007/08 academic year.
7.16 Nevertheless, to speed up the provision of articulation opportunities at the UGC-funded institutions, the SC recommends that the Government consider bringing forward the creation of all the committed senior year places at intake level to the 2008/09 academic year.
Recommendation 19: We recommend the Government, in consultation with the University Grants Committee (UGC), should bring forward the creation of all the committed senior year places at intake level in the UGC-funded institutions to the 2008/09 academic year.
7.17 As regards further increase in senior year places beyond the places committed by the Government, given the resources and capacity constraints, we agree that the UGC-funded institutions should be allowed time to deliver the committed places first, while preparing for the implementation of the four year undergraduate programmes in the 2012/13 academic year.
7.18 Regarding admission of students to the senior year places of the UGC-funded programmes, the SC agrees that it is a matter within institutions’ autonomy. That said, the UGC has made clear to the institutions that admission to the publicly-funded senior year places must be based on merit (e.g. academic achievements and performance during interviews), and be open in nature. Institutions should consider the background and circumstances of each applicant on its own merit. The UGC will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that admissions are done in a fair and open manner.
(b) Articulation in Self-financing Institutions
7.19 There is a limit to which Government and the institutions can expand the number of publicly-funded senior year places within a short period of time. Indeed, most of the institutions would have reached their maximum capacity by the 2008/09 academic year after they have put in place all the committed senior year places (Recommendation 19 above).
Even if funding is available, it would be unrealistic to press the UGC-funded institutions to provide substantially more senior year places before their 3+3+4 related capital projects are completed for the intake of an additional year of undergraduate studies and when they are preparing
for the double-cohort year. In line with our objective to promote diversity in higher education, we consider that the self-financing sector can play a pivotal role in meeting the aspirations of some of the sub-degree graduates.
7.20 As a matter of fact, there are already four local institutions21 with degree-awarding status, providing more than 2 300 self-financing degree places at intake level in the 2006/07 academic year. By way of advance standing or credit transfer, sub-degree graduates may articulate to the senior years of such degree programmes. For example, The Open University of Hong Kong has admitted some 600 students to its senior year full-time degree places in the 2006/07 academic year. In addition, four UGC-funded institutions and/or their self-financed arms, as well as the Open University of Hong Kong, are providing self-financed top-up degree programmes with a provisional intake of about 1,600 in the 2006/07 academic year22. These articulation routes are complementary to the provision of publicly-funded places at the UGC-funded institutions, and providing increasingly popular and viable alternatives for sub-degree graduates.
7.21 Given the capacity constraints of the UGC-funded sector as explained above, and in line with the objective of injecting diversity into our higher education system, we see merits in fostering the development of more self-financing degree-awarding institutions and private universities in Hong Kong. Subject to resources availability, suitable support measures, such as land grant at nominal premium for campus development and possible one-off grants for self-financing universities to upgrade their facilities might be provided. For instance, upon its upgrading as a university, the Government has provided the Hong Kong Shue Yan University with $200 million for the setting up of a General Development Fund to support the long-term development of the university.
21 The City University of Hong Kong, the Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Shue Yan University and Chu Hai College of Higher Education.
22 The figures are provisional intake figures in the 2006/07 academic year collected from the City University of Hong Kong, College of International Education of Hong Kong Baptist University, Lingnan University, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and its self-financing arm School of
Recommendation 20: Noting the limits of providing top-up degree places in the University Grants Committee sector, we recommend that the Government should provide suitable support measures to facilitate the development of self-financing degree-awarding institutions and private universities, thereby expanding the articulation opportunities for sub-degree graduates.
7.22 For meritorious students who have successfully completed sub-degree programmes, we agree that some form of support could be given to enable them to further their studies at local universities. We believe that the proposed extension of FASP to cover sub-degree graduates pursuing full-time locally-accredited self-financing degree programmes (Recommendation 14 above) could encourage the development of self-financing degree and top-up programmes in Hong Kong, thereby providing more articulation opportunities to our sub-degree graduates.
7.23 Apart from local courses, sub-degree graduates may articulate into the senior years of non-local degree courses offered in Hong Kong.
Chapter 9 will discuss further the regulatory regime for the non-local courses in Hong Kong. As at December 2007, there are about 350 such courses being offered. Moreover, some 160 institutions in 10 countries and regions recognize our AD qualifications for admission to their degree courses or for credit transfer.
Safeguarding Quality of the Self-financing Degree Sector
7.24 The proposal to extend FASP to support sub-degree students articulating in self-financing degree programmes would stimulate the demand for and supply of locally-accredited degree (and top-up degree) programmes. In the light of the experience in developing the self-financing sub-degree sector, it is imperative to put in place measures from the outset to uphold the quality and standard of self-financing degree and top-up programmes if the Government decides to extend student finance to cover students of these programmes. To this end, we recommend that similar quality assurance and transparency measures (e.g.
good practices and information portal for the self-financing sub-degree sector) should be developed for the self-financing degree sector.
Moreover, we recommend that the QA agencies responsible for degree
programmes, including the HKCAAVQ and the Quality Assurance Council (QAC) recently set up under the UGC, should jointly discuss QA issues pertaining to the self-financing degree sector. The Government should play a facilitating and coordinating role in this regard.
Recommendation 21: Recognizing the importance of ensuring the healthy and sustainable development of the self-financing degree sector (including top-up degrees), we recommend that (a) quality assurance and transparency measures for the self-financing degree sector should be put in place from the outset; and (b) the quality assurance (QA) agencies responsible for degree programmes, including the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications and the Quality Assurance Council of the University Grants Committee, should jointly discuss QA issues relating to the self-financing degree sector.
CHAPTER 8: LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK