In 2020, after the unprecedented shock of Covid-19 pandemic, the world’s economy was suddenly plunged into its deepest recession after the Second World War, with many enterprises and organisations facing continual operating pressure due to severe disruptions in various economic activities. Due to this overwhelming economic pressure, the number of graduate schemes was sharply reduced in 2020. Many recent graduates faced extreme difficulties in securing a job and the spring of 2020 has been considered as the "hardest job season ever."
Against this austere economic backdrop, the employment data from Peking University's HSBC Business School is particularly impressive. By the end of December 30 2020, out of the 282 Chinese graduate students of 2020 (including 2 students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), in addition to the 8 students who choose to pursue doctoral studies with the world’s leading universities either at home or abroad, 274 students are successfully employed (the employment rate of 99.6%). Furthermore, these graduates received an average of 2 job offers each, which greatly surpasses many other institutions. In addition, our graduates received offers from, and are subsequently employed by, prestigious and well-known organisations, such as China Development Bank, Morgan Stanley, Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba, Goldman Sachs, just to name a few.
Not only does our graduates’ employability demonstrate the higher quality of our postgraduate students compared to other academic institutions, it also reflects the important and strategic emphasis of PHBS which focuses on educating students in rigorous academic courses as well as schooling them in the issues of morality for the continued development of social responsibility and ethical commitment. As a result, the considerable investments and resources that PHBS puts into our students' personal and professional development are now paying off; the graduates of PHBS are now at the forefront of employability in the world.
Written Dr Carryn Yong and Yuting Hang, edited by Prof Guy Liu
