EdUHK Releases Graduate Employment Survey Findings
EdUHK Releases Graduate Employment Survey Findings
Graduates of The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK, formerly known as The Hong Kong Institute of Education, HKIEd) remain competitive and popular in the education sector despite the uncertainty of the secondary school teachers’ market, according to its latest Graduate Employment Survey (GES).
The 2015 GES indicated that graduates of Bachelor of Education programmes were highly sought after, with 97.5 per cent employed or in further studies. The average monthly starting salary was $23,059, a 7 per cent year-on-year increase.
The employment situation is similar for graduates from the Postgraduate Diploma of Education (PGDE). Up to 97.1 per cent of the surveyed graduates were employed or had chosen to pursue further studies, with their average monthly starting salary reaching $23,342, 2 per cent up above the figure from the previous year.
The Student Affairs Office conducts the GES from October to December each year to assess the employment status of EdUHK’s full-time graduates. A total of 770 new graduates of the full-time Bachelor of Education programmes and the PGDE participated in the latest survey.
Mr Chan Kai-ming, EdUHK Director of Student Affairs, said, “Our graduates have remained well sought-after by the education sector. In the past five years, over 90% of graduates of our teacher education programmes (see note 1) who secured full time employment have entered the education sector and have become an important force. This has much to do with their professional education knowledge, classroom experience and whole-person development”.
Based on the government projection for teacher demand, EdUHK has reduced the intakes of secondary majors to its Bachelor of Education (BEd) in recent years. It is estimated that graduates with such majors will account for only 7 per cent of the University’s graduates in 2016.
In anticipation of a stable recovery in the student intake of the secondary school sector and increasing demand for teachers from 2017/18 onwards (see note 2), EdUHK will launch three BEd programmes funded by the University Grants Committee in September 2016, namely Chinese History, Science Education and Geography. A four-year Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Special Education programme will also be launched to prepare for community needs in relation to special education.
To enhance the competitiveness of EdUHK graduates and synergise education and complementary programmes, three new co-terminal double degree programmes will be offered from September, namely the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Creative Arts and Culture and Bachelor of Education (Honours) (Music); Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Creative Arts and Culture and Bachelor of Education (Honours) (Visual Arts), and Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Language Studies and Bachelor of Education (Honours) (English Language).
As of June 2016, the University has received more than 63,800 applications via JUPAS for its Bachelor’s degree programmes, a 2.2 per cent increase over the 62,391 applications received in December 2015, i.e. the first submission deadline for 2016 entry. The number of Band A applications has increased by 4.7 per cent since December last year to 15,500. The number of applications for the Bachelor of Education degree programmes has also increased, with 8,300 Band A applications now received, a slight change of 5 per cent from the 7,913 received in December 2015.
The University has also received more than 3,070 applications for its PGDE programmes, and its taught doctoral and Master’s degree programmes have attracted more than 2,800 applications from 17 countries and regions so far.
In addition to pre-service graduates, the survey interviewed 142 graduates of EdUHK’s programmes complementary to Education: the Bachelor of Arts in Language Studies, Bachelor of Social Sciences in Global and Environmental Studies, and Bachelor of Arts in Creative Arts and Culture.
96.5 per cent of these graduates had successfully secured employment or were pursuing further studies, with an average starting salary of $12,806. The fields in which they were engaged included education, business services, creative arts or design, community and social services, media and publication, government and public organisations, among others.
Note 1: Teacher education programmes include full-time BEd and PGDE.
Note 2: For background information, please refer to the LegCo paper submitted by the Education Bureau in October 2012: http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr12-13/english/panels/ed/papers/ed1102cb4-74-1-e.pdf
Attachment: Graduate employment survey 2015
Graduates of The Education University of Hong Kong remain competitive and popular in the education sector despite the uncertainty of the secondary school teachers’ market.
