Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1992

1992 Freshmen in Profile The annual surveys on new students of the University conducted by the Office of Student Affairs usually reveal interesting statistics about the undergraduate population. The survey on first-year undergraduate students admitted to the University in the academic year 1992—93 has recently been completed. Of the 1,998 full-time students, 1,951 returned the questionnaires, giving a high response rate of 97.7 per cent. As for part-time degree programmes, 362 returns were received from a total of 366 new students. Freshmen in Full-time Undergraduate Programmes Sex, Age, Religion Statistics r e v e al that the o v e r a ll m a le t o f e m a le r a t io a m o ng t he f r e s h m en is 1:1.05. M a le students f o rm the m a j o r i ty i n the F a c u l ty o f E n g i n e e r i ng (91.3 p e r c e n t) a n d t he F a c u l ty o f S c i e n ce (63.7 p e r cent), w h i le f e m a le students d o m i n a te the F a c u l ty o f A r ts ( 7 4 .4 p e r c e n t) a n d t he F a c u l ty o f S o c i al S c i e n ce ( 6 7 .9 p e r cent). T h e average age o f the students is 18.9 years, w h i le m a le a nd f e m a le averages are 18.9 a nd 18 .8 r e s p e c t i v e l y. S o me 6 4 p e r cent o f t he students p r o f e ss n o r e l i g i o us b e l i e f. T h e others are m a i n ly Protestants ( 30 p e r cent) a nd C a t h o l i cs ( 4 . 9 p er cent). A b o ut 1.1 p e r cent are B u d d h i s t s. Pre-university Non-academic Life and Working Experience F r e s h m en in general h a ve h ad an active n o n - a c a d em i c l i fe b e f o re e n t e r i ng t he U n i v e r s i t y: 9 9 .2 p er cent o f t h em h a ve p a r t i c i p a t ed i n v a r i o us e x t r a c u r r i c u l a r a c t i v i t i es at s c h o o l, a n d a b o ut 8 6 p e r cent h a ve t r a v e l l ed o u t s i de H o ng K o n g. S o me s i x p e r cent o f the f r e s h m en h a ve h a d t he e x p e r i e n ce o f f u l l - t i me e m p l o y m e n t , 29 per cent the e x p e r i e n ce o f p a r t - t i me e m p l o y m e nt a n d 7 8 p e r c e nt t he e x p e r i e n ce o f s u mm er w o rk p r i or t o e n t e r i ng u n i v e r s i t y. Family Background W i th respect to the l e v el o f e d u c a t i o n al t t a i nme nt o f students' parents, i t has b e en f o u nd that 18.5 per cent of the fathers a nd 8 .9 p e r cent o f the m o t h e rs h a ve r e c e i v ed e d u c a t i on t o t e r t i a ry l e v el w h i le 41 per cent of the fathers a n d s o me 3 6 p e r cent o f the m o t h e rs h a ve r e c e i v ed s e c o n d a ry e d u c a t i o n. A s regards t h e ir o c c u p a t i o n s, 2 1 . 3 p e r c e nt o f t h e f a t h e rs a r e p r o d u c t i o n - r e l a t ed w o r k e r s, 14.2 per cent are service w o r k e r s, 11.7 p er cent are s t o r e - o w n e rs or me r c h a n t s, a nd 12.3 p er c e nt are p r o f e s s i o n a l s o r i n m a n a g e r i al p o s i t i o n s. O v er h a lf of the m o t h e rs (54.3 per cent) are h o u s e w i v e s, w h i le 18 .7 p e r cent are e m p l o y ed as p r o d u c t i o n - r e l a t ed w o r k e r s. S t u d e n ts u n d er s u r v ey c o me f r om f a m i l i es w i th a m e d i an m o n t h ly h o u s e h o ld i n c o me o f $ 1 2 , 1 3 1 . 9U n d er s i x per cent o f the f a m i l i es h a ve a m o n t h ly h o u s e h o ld i n c o me o f b e l ow $ 5 , 0 0 0. A b o ut 87 p e r c e nt o f the f r e s h m en h a ve t o r e ly i n v a r y i ng degrees o n t h e ir f a m i l i es f or f i n a n c i al s u p p o r t. M o re t h an h a lf o f t h em ( 5 9 .7 p e r cent) also i n d i c a te t he n e ed f o r g o v e r n m e nt grants a nd loans. S o me 5 3 p e r Mode of education undertaken during the year prior to admission to The Chinese University: by sex Mode of Education Percentage of Students Male Female Total Middle 6/Form6 56.4% 57.9% 57.2% Form7 33.4% 32.1% 32.8% Post-secondary 4.6% 2.7% 3.6% Private study 2.5% 1.2% 1.8% Others 0.1% 0.3% 0.2% Not studying 2.0% 5.6% 3.8% Unknown 1.0% 0.2% 0.6% Total 100% 100% 100% FRESHMEN IN PROFILE 23