THE majority of students who graduated from Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) last year were able to find a job or took up higher studies within six months after graduation, a survey has revealed. The survey, conducted by PolyU's student affairs office, found that 97.5 per cent of the 2,093 respondents were either working or engaged in full-time studies last December. PolyU had 2,266 first-degree graduates last year. Among the employed graduates, almost 86 per cent got their first job within two months after their graduation in June - something that had not been achieved by PolyU students for the past five years. Graduates in optometry, management, radiography and global supply chain management were all employed by the time of the survey. The average monthly salary of the employed graduates soared by 10 per cent from $10,108 in 2004 to $11,133 last year. Those who enjoyed a more than 15 per cent rise in their starting salaries had studied chemical technology, engineering physics, civil and structural engineering, internet and multimedia technologies, radiography, translation and Chinese, marketing, and information technology. As for last year's higher diploma graduates, 98 per cent of the 1,594 respondents were working or studying full-time last December. Meanwhile, the head of PolyU's school of design, Lorraine Justice, has been chosen as one of the world's top 40 designers by the authoritative design magazine, ID. The magazine praised Professor Justice for raising the standards of design education and the industry, describing her approach as 'holistic, focusing on concepts such as sustainability and instilling values about design's impact on how we live'. An industrial designer, Professor Justice has provided design consultancy services for major corporations, including Apple, CompuServe and Microsoft.
