New Incubation Program Held by Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher Education Aims to Help Students "Win at the Starting Line"

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 12 July 2022 - The economy decreased due to economic strain during the pandemic. Additionally, the number of people with a bachelor's degree from college or university increased drastically, which may result in having more difficulties in pursuing a career. According to the recent data shown in Note 1 and provided by the Education Grants Committee, the unemployment rate of university graduates in 2021 was 2.9%, which hit a new high in the past 11 years. To learn about the job-hunting status quo of local graduates, Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher Education entrusted the market research company, Hong Kong Healthcare Market Research and Consulting Ltd. to carry out market research. In this way, they can understand the reason behind this questionnaire, "Employers Choice of the Local Graduates", and their opinion on the Incubation Lifelong Learning Scheme. 90% of Employees Value "Internship Experience" Rather Than "Academic Background" Hong Kong Healthcare Market Research and Consulting Ltd. conducted a market survey in June 2022 asking for the opinion of different enterprises. They interviewed employers and asked them about their opinion on local graduates and what are job requirements. In the end they received 109 "Employers Choice of Local Graduates" effective questionnaires According to the questionnaire results found in Note 2, we found that nearly 70% (68.8%) of employers have confirmed that they may consider hiring a new graduate in the second half of the year. Nearly 90% (89.9%) of respondents have confirmed that they might consider hiring a recent college graduate with relevant work experience even though the graduate may not have a degree relevant to job requirements. In terms of considering hiring recent college graduates, employers have set priorities in job competency. They think the graduates should have the following competencies: "IT application know-how and prospect" (81.6%), "relevant internship experience" (62.4%), and "candidates should have studied relevant subjects" (60.5%). Over half (57.3%) of employers who hired graduates said they were satisfied with their overall job performance. In addition, 59.6% of employers believe that graduates should "quickly absorb knowledge or skills at work" and 56.2% of employers think graduates should "have strong IT skills". Moon Wong, Director at Hong Kong Healthcare Market Research and Consulting Ltd. said "graduates still have many chances to find a job during the pandemic even though the economy has decreased and the employment market is under pressure. Compared to academic background and achievements, employers value work experience even more. If students have similar work experience, chances are they are more likely to get hired." Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher Education's New Program Enables Students to Find a Job After Graduation Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher Education realized the local market demand for college graduates and its expectation. It proposed the Incubation Lifelong Learning Scheme, allowing students to learn in the real world so that they are equipped with professional skills and can be more competitive. Prof. Wong, Kwok Shing Thomas, Acting Principal Professor at the Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher Education said, "ILLS allows students to learn from theory and practice at the same time by putting what they've learned into practice." ILLS gives students a chance to get involved with the industry they may be interested in. Under the instruction of mentors, students can learn the job properties, operational situations, and prospects. In addition, it may inspire students to develop creative thinking and potential. It creates a learning platform for students to put learning into practice. Meanwhile, the program will invite some specialists who can lend a hand to join the institution and save resources. It also allows current employees at the institution to learn something because "In teaching others we teach ourselves." In this way, we can promote a culture of self-directed lifelong learning where everyone in the institution can take social responsibility and have an influence on people so that the overall brand image can be improved. We've already invited several institutions to join this program. In the future, we welcome more enterprises or institutions to support and join us. 1 Profession, 2 Skills, 3 Experience, and 4 Immeasurables Prof. Tse, Heung Wing Ricky, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher Education said the program can bring the following: "1 Profession, 2 Skills, 3 Experiences, and 4 Immeasurables". Among them, "1 Profession" means the professional courses available at the Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher Education as specified in Appendix 1, including the Diploma in Foundation Studies...