LCQ15: Supply of talents for hotel industry
26.10.2022

Following is a question by the Hon Yiu Pak-leung and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, in the Legislative Council today (October 26): Question: Regarding the supply of talents for the hotel industry, will the Government inform this Council: (1) whether it knows the following information in respect of the bachelor's degree programmes in hotel management and hospitality offered by the eight universities funded by the University Grants Committee as well as the 11 degree-awarding self-financing post-secondary institutions registered under the Post Secondary Colleges Ordinance (Cap. 320) in each of the past three years: the number of places, the number of local and non-local students, as well as the percentage of graduates who have joined the hotel industry; (2) whether it knows the following information in respect of the non-bachelor's degree and vocational training programmes in hotel management and hospitality offered by the Vocational Training Council (VTC) as well as the post-secondary institutions registered under the Education Ordinance (Cap. 279) in each of the past three years: the number of places, the number of local and non-local students, as well as the percentage of graduates who have joined the hotel industry; (3) whether it knows if internship programmes with credits are included in the current hotel management and hospitality programmes offered by the VTC and various types of post-secondary institutions; if there are, of the practicum hours; whether it will consider requiring the VTC and such institutions to increase the number of internship positions and practicum hours, as well as providing internship allowance for such students, thereby increasing the incentives for students to enrol in hotel-industry-related programmes or join the hotel industry; and (4) whether it will consider allowing non-local students pursuing programmes below bachelor's degree level to stay in Hong Kong upon graduation to continue receiving training or join the hotel industry, so as to increase the supply of talents for the industry? Reply: President, Regarding the question raised by the Hon Yiu Pak-leung, our reply is as follows: (1) and (2) For University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities, under the current triennial planning mechanism, the UGC only determines the total approved student number targets by university and study level. Except for the two disciplines of education and healthcare, the Government does not specify the student number targets for individual disciplines or programmes. Universities may, under the principle of institutional autonomy, flexibly deploy their recurrent subventions allocated in the form of a block grant to determine the programmes to be offered and the allocation of student places among different disciplines. In the 2019/20 to 2021/22 academic years, the actual admissions of UGC-funded undergraduate programmes related to hospitality and tourism are set out below: Academic year UGC-funded undergraduate programmes related to hospitality and tourism Actual number of first year admissions Actual number of senior year admissions Local Non-local Total Local Non-local Total 2019/20 143 62 205 139 0 139 2020/21 136 37 173 135 0 135 2021/22 115 42 157 142 0 142 Notes: The above admission figures include UGC-funded undergraduate programmes with English titles involving the keywords "Hospitality"/"Hotel"/"Tourism"/"Travel". Non-local students refer to students whose nationality or place of residence is not Hong Kong. As regards self-financing post-secondary education institutions, the actual intakes of full-time locally-accredited self-financing sub-degree and undergraduate programmes related to hospitality and tourism in the 2019/20 to 2021/22 academic years are as follows: Academic year Self-financing posts-secondary programmes related to hospitality and tourism Actual intakes of sub-degree programmes Actual intakes of first-year- first-degree programmes Actual intakes of top-up degree programmes Local Non-local Total Local Non-local Total Local Non-local Total 2019/20 1 127 14 1 141 85 16 101 492 32 524 2020/21 811 8 819 51 4 55 497 29 526 2021/22 661 9 670 36 2 38 431 19 450 Notes: The above actual intake figures include programmes with English titles involving the keywords "Hospitality"/"Hotel"/"Tourism"/"Travel". The abovementioned programmes include self-financing post-secondary programmes provided by the Vocational Training Council (VTC). The Education Bureau and the UGC do not collect information on the career pursuits of the graduates of the aforementioned UGC-funded undergraduate programmes and self-financing post-secondary programmes. As for the VTC, the actual intakes of subsidised programmes related to hospitality and tourism and the percentage of graduates working in the restaurant and hospitality industry in the 2019/20 to 2021/22 academic years are as follows: Academic year Actual intakes Percentage of graduates working in the restaurant and hospitality industry Local Non-local 2019/20 1 885 4 33 per cent 2020/21 1 538 1 34 per cent 2021/22 1 247 0 Figure not available (3) From the 2012/13 academic year onwards, all full-time Higher Diploma students (including those in the hospitality discipline) enrolled in the VTC must participate in Industrial Attachment and complete at least 90 hours of workplace or equivalent training before graduation. Full-time diploma and certificate in hospitality and tourism students undergo no fewer than 400 hours of simulated real-life practical training at the VTC's T Hotel, training restaurants and training cafe through the Integrated Learning Experience module. As regards the post-secondary education sector, under the principle of institutional autonomy, the UGC-funded universities and self-financing institutions have the flexibility to develop programmes that meet market needs and adjust the curricula of relevant programmes including internship requirements. The Education Bureau and the UGC do not collect information on the requirements for internship hours and the corresponding credits of relevant post-secondary programmes. (4) The Government introduced the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG) in 2008 to allow non-local students (including Mainland students) to work in Hong Kong after graduating with a bachelor's degree or higher qualification from post-secondary institutions in Hong Kong, with a view to attracting non-local graduates to stay and flourish in the city, thereby enhancing the quality of our manpower resources and alleviating manpower demand. The results are notable. As at June 2022, about 107 000 non-local graduates have been permitted to stay or return to work in Hong Kong. In a bid to further attract talents and enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness, the Chief Executive announced in his 2022 Policy Address to relax the limit of stay under the IANG from 12 months to 24 months to facilitate non-local graduates to stay or return to work in Hong Kong, and to extend the IANG on a pilot basis to cover graduates with a bachelor's degree or higher qualification from Hong Kong universities' campuses in Mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, so as to attract outstanding talents from these institutions to come to Hong Kong for employment. The Government will continue to keep in view the operation of the IANG. As mentioned by the Chief Executive in his 2022 Policy Address, regarding the manpower shortage problem faced by different industries, the relevant policy bureaux will listen to the views of the industries and formulate solutions with regard to their situation.