According to the latest survey, the Economics Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) was ranked number one in Hong Kong. In January 2005, the Hong Kong Economic Journal Monthly surveyed the seven local universities that offer an economics program, and CUHK was ranked higher than its counterparts in the other six local universities that offered an economics programme. The survey ranked the seven economics programmes according to three main criteria: proportion of teaching staff with doctoral degree, research performance, and employers' evaluation of graduates. The result was that the Department of Economics at CUHK was ranked top according to all three criteria. (Table 1)

On proportion of teacher staff with doctoral degree, the percentage at Department of Economics, CUHK was 100%. On research performance, CUHK was also ranked number 1, with the highest overall score of 99.24, a result of a top score of 100 on per-capita journal publications1 , and a high score of 96.2 on per-capita research funding from CERG (Competitive Earmarked Research Grants). (Table 2) On employers' evaluation of graduates, CUHK had again the highest overall score of 7.85. This part of the survey covered the employers' evaluation of graduates in terms of work ability, work attitude, English ability and Chinese ability. The result was that CUHK graduates were given top scores in three out of the four dimensions. (Table 3).

The Department of Economics at CUHK has always been fully committed to providing economic education of highest quality to students from Hong Kong, the Mainland and overseas. The survey serves to give recognition to the years of hard work rendered by staff and students alike. In the years ahead, the Department will implement new plans to expand its scholarship base, staff size, course offerings, and student diversity.

Table 1: Overall Rankings of Economics Programmes
Institution
Percentage of Staff with Doctoral Degree
Research Performance
Employer Evaluation
CUHK
1
1
1
HKUST
1
2
 
HKU
1
3
 2
Lingnan U
1
4
City U
1
5
 
Baptist U
1
6
3
HK Polytechnic U
2
7
 
Table 2: Research Performance Score and its Breakdown
Institution
Per-Capita Journal Publications (80%)
Per-Capita Research Funding from CERG (20%)
Overall Score
Rank
CUHK
100.00
96.20
99.24
1
HKUST
73.50
100.00
78.80
2
HKU
71.10
50.63
67.01
3
Lingnan U
65.50
48.10
61.02
4
City U
43.00
10.13
36.43
5
Baptist U
19.80
37.97
23.43
6
HK Polytechnic U
13.20
10.13
12.59
7
Table 3: Employers¡¦ Evaluation of Graduates
Institution
Sample Size
Work Ability
Work Attitude
English Ability
Chinese Ability
Overall Score
Score
Rank
Score
Rank
Score
Rank
Score
Rank
Score
Rank
CUHK
35
7.97
1
8.20
1
7.29
2
7.53
1
7.85
1
HKU
30
7.61
2
7.87
2
7.48
1
7.29
2
7.75
2
Baptist U
6
6.83
3
7.50
3
6.67
3
6.00
3
7.17
3
Table 4: Journal Categories
I. Category One
1. American Economic Review 6. Journal of Business
2. Econometrica 7. Journal of Finance
3. Journal of Economic Theory 8. Journal of Financial Economics
4. Journal of Political Economy 9. Review of Financial Studies
5. Quarterly Journal of Economics  
II. Category Two
10. Economic Inquiry 30. Journal of Regional Science
11. Economic Journal 31. Journal of Urban Economics
12. Economica 32. National Tax Journal
13. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 33. Public Choice
14. International Economic Review 34. Rand Journal
15. Journal of Business & Economic Studies 35. Review of Economic Studies
16. Journal of Development Economics 36. Review of Economics & Statistics
17. Journal of Econometrics 37. Southern Economic Journal
18. Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control 38. AER Papers and Proceedings
19. Journal of Economic History 39. Brookings Papers & Economic Activity
20. Journal of Human Resource 40. Canadian Journal of Economics
21. Journal of International Economics 41. Economic Development & Cultural Change
22. Journal of International Money & Finance 42. Economics Letters
23. Journal of Labor Economics 43. Journal of the American Statistical Association
24. Journal of Law and Economics 44. Journal of Economic Literature
25. Journal of Legal Studies 45. Journal of Financial & Quantitative Analysis
26. Journal of Law, Economics & Organization 46. Journal of Mathematical Economics
27. Journal of Monetary Economics 47. Oxford Economic Papers
28. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 48. Scandinavian Journal of Economics
29. Journal of Public Economics 49. World Development
1The survey recognized 49 international journals, divided into two categories. (Table 4). In deriving the per-capita journal publication score, per-capita publication in the first category is given a weight of 30% and that in the second category is given a weight of 70%