P R E S S   R E L E A S E

         Professors Hung Fan-sing, Chung Yue-ping and Tam Man-kwan of the Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong has completed an investigation into the willingness of Hong Kong people to work in Mainland China and their educational demand.  The study is part of the Project Series on Hong Kong and the China Factor coordinated by the Social Science and Education Panel of The Chinese University of Hong Kong.  Professor Joseph Chan of the School of Journalism and Communication is the series coordinator. 

        The telephone survey was conducted during 27 February to 4 March 2002 on a successful sample of 1,022 Hong Kong people aged 15-54 by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of The Chinese University of Hong Kong.     

Out of the 1,022 respondents to the survey, 2.4% of them worked in Mainland China, 48.1% worked in Hong Kong and 49.4% had no work.  19.1% of the respondents were undertaking training and further study, and 80.6% were not.

        Findings of the survey show relative advantages of Hong Kong education that are favorable to working in Mainland China, as perceived by respondents who worked or intended to work in Mainland China (449 respondents) in the following areas:  English language proficiency (36.1% of 449 respondents), professional knowledge (28.3%), international vision and exposure (28.3%), information technology proficiency (23.4%), and creativity (20%).  This suggests that Hong Kong education is perceived to have such advantages in enabling Hong Kong people to work in Mainland China.

        82.6% (that is, 371 respondents) of the respondents who worked or intended to work in Mainland China (449 respondents) indicated that they would undertake training and further study for their work, present or future.  They intended to study the following areas:  Putonghua (55.8% of 371 respondents), industry-specific professional knowledge (46.6%), Chinese law and system (43.4%), and English language (13.7%).  These reflect that education and training in these areas are important and demand would increase, as long as Hong Kong people are willing to improve their competitiveness in Mainland China.

        66.1% (that is, 328 respondents) of the respondents who did not intend to work in Mainland China (505 respondents, or 496 valid cases) indicated that they would undertake training and further study.  They intended to study the following areas:  English language (49.4% of 328 respondents), information technology (43.8%), Putonghua (28%), business and administration (17.4%), and law and accounting (13.4%).  These show that training and further study are valued by most Hong Kong people.  Their preferred areas for training and further study are mainly languages and professional knowledge and skills. 

        On the future development of Hong Kong education, 86.6% of all the respondents in this study (that is, 1,022 respondents) agreed that the government should subsidize local students to study abroad, 60% agreed that years of university education should be changed from 3 to 4, and 57.4% agreed that places of the associate degree program should be expanded.  All these suggest that Hong Kong people are placing great emphasis on the importance of education as an investment in human capital and they anticipate that the society should provide them with more educational opportunities and better education quality (particularly at the level of higher education) and with subsidized training and further study.