The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen released the employment report of its first cohort of bachelor's degree graduates on January 25. According to the report, the Class of 2018 consists of 268 graduates, with a male to female ratio of 0.6:1; 6.34% are ethnic minorities.

All of the 268 graduates come from The School of Management and Economics (SME), including 151 Global Business Studies graduates (56.34%), 80 Economics (29.85%), and 37 Marketing and Communication (13.81%). Among them, 60.07% are from Shaw College, and 39.93% from Diligentia College.

In terms of student origins, the number of graduates from Guangdong Province is the highest, reaching 70 people and accounting for 26.12% of the total number, followed by Sichuan Province (7.09%), Hubei Province (6.72%), Hunan Province (6.72%), Fujian Province (6.34%), Shandong Province (6.34%), Zhejiang Province (5.97%), and Henan Province (5.60%).

According to the statistics as of December 31, 2018, the employment rate for the first cohort of undergraduates of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen reaches 98.51%, of which the proportion of students enrolled for further study stands at 65.67% and employment 32.46%. As an international university rooted in mainland China based on the resources and advantages of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, CUHK-Shenzhen has demonstrated the achievement of its four-year development with a satisfying graduation report.

Outstanding Performance on Employment and Further Studies

Among the 268 graduates from SME, CUHK-Shenzhen, 176 of them continue to study, receiving an average of 3 offers from prestigious universities in the world. 63.64% of the graduates are to pursue a master's/PhD degrees from QS top 50 universities. 32.64% choose to work after graduation, mostly employed by large multinational corporations and unicorn companies, with an average annual salary of 137,500 yuan.

Class of 2018 graduates come from three SME programmes, Global Business Studies, Economics, and Marketing and Communication. The employment rate of the 151 Global Business Studies graduates reaches 98.68%. Among them, 98 (64.90%) choose to pursue further studies, 50 (33.11%) are employed, and 1 (0.66%) self-employed.

The employment rate of the 80 Economics graduates stands at 97.5%, and the number of students pursuing further studies and employment reaches 63 (78.75%) and 15 (18.75%) respectively.

The overall employment rate of the 37 Marketing and Communication graduates tops 100%, with 40.54% furthering their studies and 59.46%  employed.

Oversea Universities as Major Destinations for Further Studies

The United States is the most popular destination for studying abroad, attracting 31.82% of the Class of 2018 graduates while Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ranks second, accounting for 25.57%, followed by Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen) at 12.50% and the United Kingdom 11.36%. It can be seen that the vast majority of graduates prefer overseas destinations. Around 63.64% are about to pursue master's/doctoral degrees in QS top 50 universities around the world, including Oxford University, University of Chicago, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Cornell University, Columbia University, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Johns Hopkins University, etc. It is worth noting that the world-renowned Columbia University has offered a total of 12 admissions to the SME graduates, with 9 accepted.

Many students have chosen subjects that are different from their undergraduate majors. A graduate of Marketing and Communication, for example, is about to pursue the Master of Human-Computer Interaction (MHCI) programme at Carnegie Mellon University. 

Over 70% Employed Graduates Secure Positions in Greater Bay Area with Average Annual Income of 137,500 Yuan

A total of 87 students choose to work after graduation, accounting for 32.46%. They are mainly distributed in large multinational enterprises and unicorn enterprises, with an average annual salary of 137,500 yuan. Among them, 52.87% are employed by private enterprises, such as Tencent and Huawei; 34.48% by contractual joint ventures, cooperative ventures or solely foreign-funded enterprises such as Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Big Four accounting firms; 8.05% by state-owned enterprises; and 4.60% by government agencies, institutions and research centers.

The employment statistics by major industry sector shows that “Consulting and Professional Services” and “Finance” have been the most popular sectors, favored by 25.29% and 24.14% of graduates respectively, with“High-tech/Internet” (18.39%) and “FMGG/Retail” (10.34%) following after.

In terms of regional distribution, nearly 90% of the graduates choose to work in first-tier cities such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong, which account for 51.72%, 13.79%, 10.34%, 6.90%, and 3.45%, respectively. The number of graduates employed in the Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macau Greater Bay Area reaches 62, accounting for 71.26% of the total employed. Employers include well-known global companies such as CICC, PWC, Tencent, Coca-Cola, P&G, IBM, etc.

The University has conducted a questionnaire survey for employers on 12 professional abilities and literacy of CUHK-Shenzhen graduates. The results show that most employers are satisfied with the performance of CUHK-Shenzhen graduates and highly recognize their excellent language proficiency, learning ability, interpersonal communication, and initiative.