Mechanical Engineering

*Where did the 1999 Mechanical Engineering graduates go ?*
	Careers Education and Placement Centre

I. Introduction

The information in this paper is extracted from the Graduate Employment Survey of 1999 to answer the following questions about Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering graduates : -

How many were employed six months after graduation ?

Among those who pursued further studies, what programmes were they enrolled in ?

Among those who were employed full-time, how long did it take them to get their first job offer ?

In which sectors were they employed ?

How much salary did they receive ?

How many job offers did they receive ?

Who were their employers and what were their job titles ?

II. Employment Situations in 1999
Of the 92 graduates from this programme, 88 responded to the survey. Their employment situations are listed below.

	*BENG(ME)*				HKU Overall*
	1999		1998		1999		1998
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
No. of respondents	88	100	86	100	2475	100	2383	100
Employed	61	69	64	74	1928	78	1795	75
Unemployed seeking F/T job	9	10	12	14	79	3.2	157	6.6
Further Studies	18	21	10	12	455	18	413	17
Emigrated/Returned to home country	0	0	0	0	4	0.2	3	0.1
Not seeking F/T job	0	0	0	0	9	0.4	15	0.6

* HKU Overall refers to the figure for the total HKU population and includes M.B.,B.S. and B.D.S. graduates.

III. Further Studies
Eighteen graduates proceeded to further studies. The tables below show the academic programmes that they pursued and their sources of funds.

	Academic Programme
Field of Study	Ph.D.	M.Phil.	Master (Coursework)	Postgraduate Certificate	Bachelor	Adv.Diploma/ Diploma
Science	1
Mechanical Engineering		8	1
Medical Science		1
Environmental Engineering		1
Education			1	1
Material Engineering			1
Computer Science					1	1
Motors Engineering					1

*Source of Funds*	No. of Graduates
Teaching Assistantship/Studentship	9
Own Funds	6
Government Grant & Loan	2
Full Scholarship	1

IV. Time Taken to Secure Employment
The time taken for graduates to secure employment is shown below.

	% of new graduates who have secured employment
By the end of	1999	1998
May or before	5.3%	6.5%
June	19%	24%
July	37%	53%
August	65%	66%
September	86%	87%
October	93%	98%
November	98%	98%
December	100%	100%

No Response = 4

V. Employment Sectors
The majority of graduates in Mechanical Engineering were employed in commerce & industry, while others were employed in the civil service and community, social & personal services.

	% of graduates
Sector	1999	1998
Commerce & Industry	88%	92%
Civil Service	7%	6%
Community, Social & Personal Services	5%	2%

No Response = 3

VI. Basic Salary and Gross Income
The remuneration received by graduates in Mechanical Engineering is shown below.

	Basic Salary				Gross Income
	BENG(ME)		HKU Average*		BENG(ME)		HKU Average*
	1999	1998	1999	1998	1999	1998	1999	1998
Mean	$11,211	$10,947	$14,480	$15,496	$12,258	$12,214	$15,716	$16,557
Median	$10,000	$10,000	$10,870	$12,300	$11,000	$10,982	$11,917	$13,325
Minimum	$1,384	$2,000	$1,000	$1,000	$8,000	$7,500	$3,000	$5,000
Maximum	$53,000	$25,000	$58,000	$58,000	$53,000	$30,083	$60,000	$59,000

* HKU Average refers to the figure for the total HKU population and includes M.B.,B.S. and B.D.S. graduates.

VII. Number of Full-Time Job Offers
The number of job offers received by graduates in Mechanical Engineering is shown in the following table.

*No. of job offers received*	No. of graduates (% of graduates)
One	21 (40%)
Two	24 (45%)
Three	3 (5.7%)
Four	3 (5.7%)
Six	1 (1.9%)
Eight or more	1 (1.9%)

No Response = 8

VIII. Names of Employers and Job Titles
The job titles of graduates in Mechanical Engineering in full-time employment and the names of their employers are listed below.

*Employers*	Job Titles
CIVIL SERVICE -
HKSAR - Electrical & Mechanical Services Department	Engineering Graduate
HKSAR - Electrical & Mechanical Services Department	Engineering Graduate
HKSAR - Electrical & Mechanical Services Department	Engineering Graduate
HKSAR - Labour Department	Provisional Safety Officer

COMMUNITY, SOCIAL & PERSONAL SERVICES -
Fellowship of Evangelical Students (HK) Ltd	Assistant Staff Worker
Knowledge Hotline	Chairman
Knowledge Hotline	Lecturer

COMMERCE & INDUSTRY -
AEL Associated Engineering Ltd	Management Trainee
Airport Authority	Graduate Engineer
ASM Assembly Automation Ltd	Production Engineer
ATAL Engineering Ltd	Graduate Trainee
Bois Technology Ltd	Sales Engineer
Brdy Valve & Control Co Ltd	Sales Engineer
Bumatech Co Ltd	Marketing Engineer
Cathay Pacific	Flight Attendant
Chun Wo Construction & Engineering Co Ltd	Engineer Trainee
Consultant Engineer Co	Assistant Engineer
Crown Motors Ltd	Management Trainee
Dah Chong Hong (Motor Service Centre) Ltd	Engineer Trainee
Desid Far East Ltd	Project Engineer
Dophen Engineering Co Ltd	Equipment & Machinery Engineer
Far East Consulting Engineers Ltd	Graduate Trainee
Fong's National Engineering Co Ltd	Assistant Engineer
Freedom Communications Ltd	Web Designer
Gammon Construction Ltd	Assistant Mechanical Engineer
Global Charm Asia Ltd	Programmer
Ground Support Engineering Ltd	Management Trainee
Hair Securities	Web Developer
Haking Wong Industrial Ltd	Assistant Engineer
HILTI (HK)	Field Engineer
Hong Kong Aero Engine Service Ltd	Material Control Trainee
Hsin Chong Construction Co Ltd	Graduate Service Engineer
ISOtec (HK) Co Ltd	Consultant
Jetta Co Ltd	Graduate Trainee
JL World Co Ltd	Product Engineer
Johnson Electric Manufacturing Ltd	Project Engineer
Lee Shing Mould Factory	Mechanical Engineer
Lu & Associates Ltd	Engineer Trainee
M Pos (HK) Ltd	Engineer
Mazda Motors (HK) Ltd	Sales Executive
Meinhardt (M&E) Co Ltd	Graduate Engineer
Meinhardt (M&E) Co Ltd	Graduate Engineer
Mitsui High Technology Ltd	Production Engineer
Poffehl Ltd	Engineer
Polycrown Engineering Ltd	Assistant Engineer
Process Automation Ltd	Project Coordinator
River Trade Terminal	Engineer
Roto Rooter (China) Ltd	Technician Supervisor Trainee
Scarborough (HK) Ltd	Engineer
Shun Hing Electronic Trading Co Ltd	Accounts Executive
Southa Technical Ltd	Assistant Engineer
Streamingasia.com Ltd	Production Engineer
Twin Way Consulting Engineers Ltd	Assistant Engineer
Vika International Ltd	Technician
Yung Kee Engineering Ltd	Assistant Engineer
Organization's name not reported	Computer Services Executive
Organization's name not reported	Trainee

No Response = 4

Note : Some of the 1999 graduates indicated willingness to talk to individual students about their work. Contact numbers can be obtained from counsellors at the CePc.

IX. Similar information on graduates from other disciplines is available for reference in the Careers Library. Please contact the CePc for further details.

Careers Education and Placement Centre

3/F Wong Chuang Lai Wah Building

Meng Wah Complex

The University of Hong Kong

Pokfulam Road

Hong Kong

Telephone : 2859 2314

Fax : 2559 5238

E-Mail : CEPC@HKUCC.HKU.HK

Homepage : http://www.hku.hk/cepc

Opening Hours : Monday - Friday (9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.)

Saturday (9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.)

Cindy Chan

August, 2000

The analysis is based on information provided by the respondents, and the Careers Education & Placement Centre should not be held responsible for any errors arising therefrom.

No part of this report may be reproduced in any form or by whatever means,

unless with written permission from the Director of the Careers Education and Placement Centre,

The University of Hong Kong