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SCMP Reporter

IT is a sign of progress that as Hong Kong becomes more sophisticated and the population more educated, better qualified people are taking over from those with lesser qualifications.

  Jobs filled by people who completed only form five are being filled by matriculants or diploma holders, while graduates are filling positions previously held by matriculants.

  More businesses are demanding applicants have a second degree such as a Master's of Business Administration, indicating a decline in the value of a first degree.

  The paper chase has begun with young graduates wanting a quicker climb up the ladder of success and mid-level executives anxious to maintain hard-won positions in the face of younger colleagues with 'impressive' formal qualifications.

  To many who missed the opportunity of higher education, a common talking point is which distance learning degree course is the best.

  The University of Hong Kong's Professor Lee Ngok and Dr Agnes Lam Shun-ling feel Hong Kong is a large, active and international educational market.

  Prof Lee, director of the university's School of Professional and Continuing Education (SPACE), and Dr Lam, lecturer at the Language Centre, conducted a survey of advertisements for educational courses and programmes which appeared in three daily newspapers between January and December 1993.

  The findings, published in their book Professional and Continuing Education in Hong Kong: Issues and Perspectives, revealed that as many as 450 institutions advertised during the period, of which 319 (70.89 per cent) came from overseas.

  A study by Mr Chan Fung-ting and Mr John Holford, included in the book, found adult learners cited 'self development', 'improving job skills' and 'fulfilling interest' as reasons for enrolling.

  But the wide range of programmes offered and the large number of participants begs the question as to the 'value' of the qualifications awarded.

  Some degree programmes offered by overseas institutions are popular because entrance requirements are low and a first degree is not necessary for post-graduate programmes.

  While this does not mean the standards are low, employers have no way of assessing these qualifications.

  Programmes offered by local institutions, funded by the University and Polytechnic Grants Committee, have internal mechanisms ensuring the quality of courses, but the standards of those offered by non-UPGC institutions are less certain.

  The rule of supply and demand also suggests that, as more people obtain a particular qualification, its relative worth in terms of the salary it commands can only fall.

  What worries human resources professionals is a misguided emphasis on the paper chase as important for career advancement.

  The president of the Hong Kong Institute of Personnel Management, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, said: 'There is a minority of individuals who get training by attending classes all the time.

  'The problem I have with that is if you don't ever use your knowledge, you would waste it.'   Mr Ng said while academic qualifications were important on entering a career, work achievement and performance at job interviews were more important for those eyeing senior positions.

  He said many companies recognised that the most effective training programmes were those tailored to meet their own needs.

  Prof Lee and Dr Lam welcomed recent government moves to tighten regulations on overseas providers of continuing education programmes in Hong Kong, but issued a warning on the hidden dangers of 'credentialism'.

  'If credentialism, or the chase after paper qualifications, is allowed to prosper, the day will come when many of our working adults will have several qualifications but few work skills in reality,' they said.

  'The student population should be educated to appreciate education for education's sake, rather than for the privileges and benefits that academic qualifications may bring.

    'A consistent programme of community education is also needed to instil in young adults the idea of a job as a special calling or a vocation, not just as a means of making a living.'     Apart from the MBA degree, accounting and legal qualifications are the most sought after.

  'One can serve the community in those roles but if everyone wants to be in those roles, who will be the nurse to take care of us when we are sick or the social worker to attend to the aged bereaved of their children who have emigrated?' they asked.



Degrees of absurdity in an age of credentials