New World Group's New Youth New World Summer Internship 2012 Inaugurates
Over 80% students willing to work in Mainland
The "New Youth New World" Summer Internship 2012 jointly organised by the Hong Kong United Youth Accociation (HKUYA), New World Development Company Limited ("New World Group", "The Group"; Stock Code: 17.HK) and HKUYA Student Exchange Network inaugurated today. 300 elite students were selected out of 2,000 applicants from seven local tertiary institutions vying for a working position in Mainland China.
The participating students will be placed in varied workplaces in Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian and Chengdu for a six-week internship starting June 21 to broaden their grasp of Chinese culture and work practices.
Present at the launch ceremony today were Tsang Yok-sing, GBS, JP, Chairman of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Han Shuxia, Director-General of Department of Youth Affairs, Liaison Office of The Central People's Government in The Hong Kong S.A.R, Florence Hui JP,Under-Secretary for Home Affairs, Chen Chung-nin, JP, Vice-Chairman of the All-China Youth Federation and Staff Officer of the Hong Kong Youth Association, and Maria Cheung, General Manager of Corporate Communication of New World Development Company Limited. During the ceremony, the HKUYA Student Exchange Network also published the results of the survey entitled "university students' opinion about the employment prospects in Mainland China and Hong Kong".
Golden chance to broaden horizons
Unlike other mainland internship programs, the "New Youth New World" Summer Internship programme provides a wide array of internship opportunities for university students. In addition to internship positions offered by state-owned enterprises, mainland enterprises and Hong Kong enterprises in Mainalnd, the program also places students in Mainland government bureaux, media agencies like the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and cultural organisations. New World Group has also offered numerous positions in its subsidiaries - New World China Land Limited, New World Department Store China Limited, New World TMT Limited and its sister company Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Limited to successful applicants. Other companies like Hang Seng Bank and China Eastern Airlines also provides internship positions.
This year, the portfolio of the participating organisations has expanded to include Beijing bureau and has included Chengdu in the programme for the first time in a bid to offer unique working experience in second-tier cities and thusenable students to lay a solid foundation for their career advancement in the future.
Over 10 large state-owned enterprises provide internship positions, including China National Offshore Oil Corporation and COFCO. Students can participate in daily business operations and off-site research.
"Even the Mainland elite students are not easy to win a place to work in the state-owned enterprises. The working experience gained from the 'New Youth New World' internship program is very unique and special which cannot be obtained elsewhere", said the Chairman of the Hong Kong Youth Association, Adrian Yip.
Maria Cheung, General Manager of Corporate Communication of New World Development Company Limited, said: "New World Group has sponsored the 'New Youth New World' internship program for the fifth year in a row. Since its inception, around 1,000 students have benefited from this internship programme. In addition to monetary sponsorship, the Group has yet again provided about 50 internship places. We believe the programme will give them many insights into the best course of becoming future leaders and that will guide their ways to their ultimate career paths. We also intend to give priority to recruit the outperformed students as our management trainees, whose performance is outstanding during the internship.
Insights into the culture of Mainland China
The programme involves visits to local government departments, renowned commercial enterprises and sight-seeing attractions, such as the Economic and Trade Office Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Shanghai, Forbidden City. A series of lectures would be arranged so that students can exchange their views with local students and successful leaders from Mainland.
Students showing strong confidence in Mainland economy
HKUYA Student Exchange Network conducted a survey in March to study Hong Kong Students' opinion about working prospects in Mainland China. Over 600 students from seven local tertiary institutions universities took part.
Over 80% of the respondents were willing to work in the Mainland after graduation, which is 10% higher than the results of the last survey conducted two years ago.Majority of respondents intended to enter the business services and financial sectors, followed by government and banking industries. Regarding job selection criteria, 75% of respondents placed more emphases on career prospects, followed by job satisfaction (50%) and salary (30%).
When asked about the attractions of working in Mainland, 80% of respondents believed the most appealing factor was the overall prosperous development opportunities in Mainland. The respondents were asked to weigh their favorable work cities. Shanghai and Beijing became the top two most popular cities amongst the students, followed by Shenzhen, Dalian and Chengdu. Moreover, 60% indicated their willingness to work in the second-tier cities, showing that they envisioned rising business potential in the second-tier cities.
Over 80% of students believed that Mainland China has better development potential than Hong Kong. Over 90% of students said that Mainland China's economic prospects in the next five years is flourishing and almost half of them believed their preferred industries will embrace a better future in Mainland China than in Hong Kong . Hong Kong students envisioned that Mainland sustaining economic growth is translated into a stronger demand in talented youngsters. However, the austerity-struck situations in Europe have further weakened their confidence in the short-term growth in Hong Kong which is an open economy with high reliance on the world's market.
New World Development Company Limited
New World Development Company Limited ("The Group"; Stock Code: 17.HK) is a leading conglomerate based in Hong Kong. The Group was founded in 1970 and publicly listed in Hong Kong in 1972. It is a constituent stock of the Hang Seng Index with a total asset value of HK$270.2 billion as at 31 December 2011.
For more than four decades, the Group has expanded from a single focus on the property business to four core areas: property, infrastructure, service and department store. As at 31 December 2011, the Group has an effective interest of approximately 60.4% in NWS Holdings Limited (Stock Code: 659.HK), approximately 69.8% in New World China Land Limited (Stock Code: 917.HK) and approximately 72.3% in New World Department Store China Limited (Stock Code: 825.HK).