Section A The Present Landscape of Higher Education in Hong Kong
Chapter 5 : Staff and Students

(cf Chapter 14 of "Higher Education in Hong Kong" (1996))

5.1	Higher education is an important employer in Hong Kong, with a total full-time workforce of some 17,000, which is equivalent to about 0.5% of total Hong Kong workforce, of whom about 5,500 are teaching or research staff in the UGC institutions. In 1997-98, about 37% of the academic staff were "home grown" in the sense of having received their own higher education in Hong Kong. Within the UGC institutions, 17% of the teaching and research staff have first degrees from universities in the United Kingdom, 13% from universities in the United States, and 12% each from universities in China, Taiwan and Canada. Partly because of rapid expansion, there are many relatively junior staff. Only 26% of the academic staff are in senior grades (professor, reader and senior lecturer). The age distribution of the staff is shown in Figure 5.1; 25% of them are female. Of staff in senior grades, about 14% are female.
Figure 5.1 Age Distribution of Academic Staff in the UGC-funded Institutions (as at 31.12.1997)
Source: UGC Secretariat
5.2	The pay of academic staff is linked to that of the civil service, which is in turn linked to the private sector through pay trend surveys. In 1998-99 the average monthly salary for a non-clinical professor was HK$126,710 and for a lecturer was HK$61,720. The cost of teaching and research staff is the major component in the expenditure of any HEI. In the UGC institutions in Hong Kong, about one-half of total recurrent expenditure can be attributed to academic staff pay.
5.3	We have already considered above, in Chapters 1 to 4, the distribution of the 150,000 or so students in higher education between the various levels and the various subjects of study. Most of the students in full-time higher education come from the 18-25 year old age group, whereas those studying part-time, particularly on "second chance" or CPE courses, are usually older. For example the median age group for OUHK students is 31-35. The male/female balance in full-time higher education is about 51/49, but there is considerable disparity between subject areas. Table 5.1 shows the percentage of female students by subject area and level in the UGC institutions. Table 5.1 Percentage of Female Students (headcount) in UGC institutions(1997-98) Level SD UG TPg RPg All Medicine & Dentistry 77 53 56 47 56 Science 51 36 26 25 37 Engineering 13 18 11 13 16 Business & Management 70 63 37 34 60 Social Science & Humanities 79 75 57 47 73 Total 64 50 38 30 51
	Source : UGC Secretariat
	In the VTC Technical Colleges, 31% of the students are female. In the HKAPA the proportion is 69%. In part-time higher education the distribution between male and female is getting to be more even: the OUHK student body divides 51% male to 49% female, compared to the 55:45 ratio in 1994-95, and 67:33 in 1991-92. There is not a great deal of evidence on the social background of students in higher education, but it is known that the proportion of undergraduates living in public housing is similar to that for the population as a whole, so that catchment is fairly widespread. Limitations on opportunity may well lie within the school system and home rather than higher education itself.