Summary of FindingsBack

The first part of the survey was to study the general public's perception of the local universities, namely, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), The City University of Hong Kong (CityU), The Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), The Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd), The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), The Lingnan University (Lingnan), The Polytechnic University of Hong Kong (PolyU) and The University of Hong Kong (HKU), order rotated randomly in different questionnaires in order to eliminate possible bias due to ordering. By means of a rating scale from 0-10, with 0 representing the worst, 10 representing the best and 5 being half-half, these universities were assessed one by one with regard to their overall performance.

A. Overall Performance of University

First of all, all respondents were asked to evaluate each of these local universities based on their perception of its overall performance using a scale of 0-10, with 0 representing the worst, 10 representing the best and 5 being half-half. Respondents were suggested to take into account the university's local and international reputation, facilities, campus environment, qualification of its teaching staff, academic research performance, conduct and quality of its students, its learning atmosphere, as well as the diversification and degree of recognition for its courses. Survey results indicated that, in terms of public perception, HKU received the highest mean score of 7.85 as rated by 1,314 respondents, CUHK came 2nd with an average score of 7.50 rated by 1,299 respondents, whereas HKUST ranked 3rd with a mean score of 7.16 rated by 1,217 respondents. When compared to the findings obtained from the last survey, no difference was observed in terms of their respective rankings regarding the overall performance of the eight universities, but the mean score of PolyU, taking the 4th rank over the past 4 years, has dropped from 6.82 to 6.71, which was tested to be statistically significant at p=0.05 level (Table 3).

Our cross-tabulation analyses showed that, within each sub-group, the respective rankings of the universities were basically the same regardless of their education attainment and occupation. Only some insignificant differences were observed which were highlighted in square brackets. For actual ratings obtained by each university as rated by each sub-group, please refer to the tables below (Tables 4-5).

B. Overall Performance of Vice-Chancellor/President

With respect to the perceived overall performance of the Vice-Chancellor/President of each university, taking into consideration one's local and international reputation, approachability, leadership, vision, social credibility and public relations, it is worthy mentioning that only four out of eight current Vice-Chancellors/ Presidents rated in this year's survey had obtained recognition rates of over 50% (ranging from 54% to 59%). Results also revealed that Professor Lap-chee Tsui of HKU topped the list for the first year, with an average score of 7.39 rated by 898 respondents, while Professor Paul C.W. Chu of HKUST, who came 1st in the previous three years, lagged closely behind, attaining a mean score of 7.38 rated by 896 respondents. Meanwhile, Professor Lawrence J. Lau of CUHK came 3rd at 6.93 and rated by 718 respondents. The 4th to 8th ranks fell to the Vice-Chancellors/Presidents of PolyU, Lingnan, HKBU, CityU and HKIEd correspondingly, with their average scores ranging from 6.61 to 5.87 (Table 6).

When cross-tabulated by respondent's education attainment and occupation, it is found that slight variations were obtained in terms of the respective rankings of the VCs/Presidents within each sub-group, though most of them fluctuated within the standard error margins. They were highlighted in square brackets for easy identification. Actual ratings obtained by each VC/President as rated by each sub-group can be found from the tables below (Tables 7-8).

C. Perceived Deficiencies among the University Graduates in Hong Kong

In line with last year's survey design, a question was then asked to gauge respondents' opinion on the qualities which most Hong Kong university graduates lack of. Results showed that, without prompting, 28% of the respondents failed to provide a definite answer, which stayed practically the same as 2004. This year, "proficiency in Chinese, English and Putonghua" topped the list with 20% of respondents citing it. In the meantime, "social/work experience" and "work attitude" were also frequently mentioned, by 18% and 17% of the total sample respectively. Other commonly-cited qualities included "social/interpersonal skills", "academic and professional knowledge" and "conduct, honesty", each constituting around 10% of the total sample (Table 9).

D. Preference for University Graduates

The survey went on to study employers' preference when selecting university graduates. To begin with, all respondents were asked if they were involved in any recruitment process of new staff in performing their office duties. Results showed that 17% of the total sample had such authority in one way or another (Table 10).

These respondents were further asked which university graduates they would prefer most when they looked for a new employee. Graduates of HKU topped the list once again this year, as chosen by one-quarter (25%) of these potential employers. Meanwhile, graduates from CUHK, PolyU and HKUST were preferred by 18%, 15% and 9% of this sub-sample respectively. Yet, 16% of these respondents said they had no particular preference and 13% failed to give a definite answer. When compared to the findings obtained in the 2004 survey, no significant differences were observed, except that CityU and HKBU have swapped their rankings, but it has to be noted that because of the small sub-sample, the standard error has increased accordingly to less than plus/minus 3.1 percentage points, i.e. less than plus/minus 6.2 percentage points at 95% confidence level (Table 11).

These respondents were then asked to provide some reasons for their specific choices. "Good knowledge in job-related areas" and "good performance of previous graduates" were most frequently cited, both by 19% of sub-sample (i.e. 3% of the total sample). Another 13% (i.e. 2% of the total sample) preferred certain graduates simply due to the reputation of their university. Other than these, reasons like "good work attitude", "being diligent/motivated", and "good language ability" were mentioned by relatively fewer respondents. These results were fairly similar to those obtained last year (Table 12).

E. General Educational Policies

Five new questions were included in this year's survey to gauge respondents' opinion on various educational policies. When asked whether the HKSAR Government's overall funding to local universities was appropriate, 45% of the respondents thought so, while 34% said it was too little, and 7% held the contrary view. Another 15% failed to make a judgment on this aspect (Table 13).

Results also revealed that, 51% of the respondents believed having 8 universities was appropriate in Hong Kong at present. On the other hand, 28% regarded this to be too many, as contrast to 15% who considered it inadequate (Table 14).

As for the admission of non-local students, including mainland and overseas ones, 46% of the respondents thought the local universities should enroll more, whereas 24% thought the opposite. It is also noteworthy that 17% preferred the status quo and 14% could not give a definite answer (Table 15).

Regarding the impact of admitting more non-local students on local ones, 53% said this would bring along more advantages, as opposed to 22% who held a negative view. Another 19% stayed neutral by choosing "half and half" (Table 16).

Finally, regarding the proposed "3+3+4" academic structure, a majority of 64% agreed to this proposal, whereas only 14% did not support it. Meanwhile, 10% opted for "half-half", 9% were unable to provide a definite answer and 4% admitted they had no idea about the content of the reform (Table 17).