Bulletin Number Three 1983

CU Graduates: Employment and Career As a civic university, The Chinese University deems it one o f its primary functions to produce graduates not only well trained in their own disciplines, but also w ith lo fty ideals and a vision for the future. In order to meet the society's need for able, industrious young talents, the University has, through the years, provided good education for its students, initiated its graduates into suitable employment and assisted them to utilize their talents and training for the good o f society. A Graduate Placement Programme, which aims at helping employers in various sectors to recruit new staff effectively, is launched annually by the Appointments Service. In spite o f the slow-down in Hong Kong's economy in 1982, placement figures s till exceeded those o f the previous years: 1,840 career openings in a large variety o f fields were offered to graduates o f the year by a total o f 722 organizations. A closer look at the career development o f our graduates presents to us the following picture. The high quality o f employment that many graduates o f The Chinese University have been able to enjoy is perhaps best illustrated by a recent study on the career development o f 1979 graduates, which reveals that the career progress o f most graduates o f that year was very encouraging. By the third quarter o f last year, the average salary o f the graduates surveyed had appreciated by 104.1%. For those in the commercial sector the appreciation was 144.7%. According to the survey on the first employ­ ment o f 1982 graduates, over 98% o f the year's graduates who intended to start working were able to secure satisfactory jobs w ithin six months after graduation. The starting salary o f 1982 graduates was also favourable: over 55% received an in itia l pay above $4,500 per month and 19%were in the $3,501- $4,500 range. A t the top o f the scale were 2% who started at $7,001 to $8,500 per month. The average appreciation over the 1981 figure is 22%. A recent Government study suggested that the average salary increase in the private sector between 1982 and 1983 ranged only from 7 to 9%. CU (Chinese University) graduates may nowadays be found in virtually every employment sector, but their performance is particularly prominent in certain fields. In China trade, many graduates are now highly valued for their fam iliarity w ith the foreign trade legislation and practice o f China. Recent years have seen many CU graduates developing rewarding careers in the PRC-held banks in Hong Kong, which over the past three years have made no less than 80 job offers to graduates in Business Administration and Economics. Others have found their way into multinational business setups which trade w ith China on a long-term basis. In the field o f electronic data processing, graduates who minored in Computer Science had already been in great demand as system analysts, programmers and sales engineers before the Univer­ sity produced its first batch o f Computer Science majors. The opportunities available to the first class o f Computer Science majors in 1982 were particularly abundant, and some o f them had as many as ten job offers shortly after graduation. Many CU graduates have embarked on careers in tertiary services such as banking’ finance and accounting. In 1982 alone, no less than 97 graduates were absorbed into the banking and finance industry. Their performance in the areas o f Foreign Exchange and Commodities Trading is particularly outstanding. NEWS 1