Bulletin Number Two 1983

Survey on 1982 Freshmen The University admitted 1,292 undergraduates (833 male, 459 female) in September 1982. Based on the findings of the ‘Survey on First-year Students', conducted annually by the Office of Student Affairs, a profile of this year's freshmen can be drawn. The 1982 survey has a high response rate of 93.7%. The average age of students is nineteen, with male students slightly older than females. Most of the students (about 70%) do not profess any religious belief, and those with a religion are Protestants (21.6%), Catholics (6.3%), Buddhists (1.1%) and Muslims (0.1%). Apart from the 14.5% admitted as private candidates, the majority of freshmen were admitted from Middle 6 (25.6%) of Chinese middle schools, and from Form 6 (38.8%) and Form 7 (18.1%) of Anglo-Chinese schools. In general, they led an active school life: 94.3% have participated in extracurricular activities. Prior to entering the University, 30% of them had some form of paid employment: 18.3% in full-time employment at a time and 11.8% with part- time jobs. Another point worth noting is that 58.7% of the new students have travelled outside Hong Kong. The number of students depending on their family for university education (45%) is more or less the same as those relying mainly on Government grants and loans (47%). The monthly household income of nearly two-fifths of the students is in the range of HK$3,000 to $5,000, while about 26% come from families with an income of less than $3,000 and 10% from families with an income above the $9,000 mark. Parents of most of the students (fathers 49.5%, mothers 47.3%) have had primary education. Parents who have had tertiary education include 6.9% of the fathers and 3.2% of the mothers. As to their occupation, 27.3% of the fathers are production workers or labourers, 6.1% are professionals or at the administrative and managerial level,and 12.8% are in retirement. An overwhelming majority of the mothers (68.3%) are housewives. A sizeable proportion of the freshmen live in rather congested conditions. More than half of them live with their families in public housing estates, with a living area of 2.6 to 5 square metres per person, and 62% have five to seven persons in their family. This is one of the main reasons (the other being the time needed to commute between campus and home — more than two hours for 57% of them) why 91% of the freshmen express a need for hostel accommodation. Monthly household income Mode of education in the year immediately preceding admission to University 8 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS