The average salary of associate degree graduates has increased by 7 percent last year from 2006, but some of the graduates are still having a hard time finding jobs, Education Bureau statistics revealed.

An online database of the bureau, www.ipass.gov.hk, listed the details of 400 courses offered by 20 institutions, nearly 300 of which are sub-degree programs.

About 60 percent of the sub-degree program graduates chose to further studies last year, while 40 percent chose to enter the work force. Those who managed to find a job earned an average salary of HK$9,100 a month, up from HK$8,500 in 2006.

The statistics showed that graduates from the Community College at Lingnan University and Lingnan Institute of Further Education earned the highest monthly salary of HK$13,988 in 2007, while those from Polytechnic University (PolyU) and Chinese University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies earned the least - HK$8,000 a month.

Meanwhile, the Community College and School of Professional Education and Executive Development recorded an unemployment rate of 18.3 percent among the 29.2 percent of graduates who decided to look for jobs. More than 16 percent of the job-seeking graduates from Lingnan University were unemployed.

Meanwhile, more than 40 percent of the employment-seeking graduates from the Hong Kong Institute of Education School of Continuing and Professional Education were employed on a part-time basis or underemployed.

Some graduates of sub-degree programs complained of the lack of recognition of their education.

They also complained that the number of government-funded top-up degree places are insufficient, making them impossible to continue studies.

Most of the institutions did not provide data on the number of sub-degree program graduates who have successfully enrolled in government-funded degree programs.

(HK Edition 06/27/2008 page1)