Survey on Hong Kong’s Business Education

27 Jun 2018

According to the latest survey conducted by The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), business education in Hong Kong at the secondary level in general does not equip students to cater for the needs of Hong Kong industry. Only half of the surveyed teachers had confidence that their secondary school graduates had sufficient business knowledge for their future career needs. And only 20% of teachers believed that their students knew how to make a personal budget.

In collaboration with the Hong Kong Economic Journal, the Department of Education Policy and Leadership of EdUHK conducted a survey on Hong Kong Business Education between March and May this year, which collected feedback from 94 teachers in 88 secondary schools, accounting for a quarter of secondary schools offering the Business, Accounting and Financial Studies subject at the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) level. The survey examined their views and expectations of business education. The survey findings are summarised below.

Expected outcome and results of business education (5 = strongly agree, 1 = strongly disagree)

	1	2	3	4	5
Graduates possess sufficient business knowledge to meet their future career needs	8.5%	39.4%	36.2%	10.6%	5.3%
To enhance the financial capacity of Hong Kong, it is essential to nurture professionals with business management skills.	3.2%	0.0%	10.6%	50%	36.2%
To enhance the financial capacity of Hong Kong, it is essential to nurture professionals with financial analysis skills.	2.1%	1.1%	11.7%	51.1%	34%
To enable young people to manage their finances properly, it is essential to develop their financial competency.	3.2%	0.0%	7.4%	50%	39.4%

Teachers’ comments on the current status of business education (5 = strongly agree, 1 = strongly disagree)

	1	2	3	4	5
Many organisations provide students with different learning opportunities for business education.	2.1	20.2	30.9	42.6	4.3
I think my school provides adequate support for business education.	12.8	29.8	27.7	27.7	2.1
I think the government, industry, public organisations and social welfare organisations provide adequate support for business education.	6.4	25.5	38.3	27.7	2.1

Mr Maxwell Ho, Lecturer I in the Department of Education Policy and Leadership at EdUHK, said the survey results indicate that in general, students’ business knowledge and skills are insufficient to cope with the needs of the business world. He said there was concern that this may constrain the personal growth of local students and the long-term economic development of Hong Kong. He said, “Even though students have a good grasp of business knowledge, it is essential for them to turn theory into practice, and teachers play an important role here. However, he said the limited number of teachers in the field in secondary schools simply could not cope with the demand, and that the shortage needs to be tackled by the Education Bureau.

Mr Ho said the promotion of business education in the long run needs the collaboration of the government, business sector, schools and frontline teachers. Special efforts should be made to support experiential learning, to cater for individual differences, and to promote professional teacher development in particular. He called on the government to conduct a thorough review of local business education in view of the decreasing number of DSE students taking Business, Accounting and Financial Studies, and suggested that the Bureau review the manpower plan for frontline teachers in the subject discipline and seek more support from the business sector to provide overseas exchange opportunities.

On the same occasion, Professor Christina Yu, Professor (Practice) of the Department of Social Sciences at EdUHK, said she believes that interdisciplinary learning and the participation of higher education institutions are the key to solving the problem.

Appendix: Survey Findings on Hong Kong’s Business Education

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