Page 21 - Accelerating Research and Impact - Issue 7

According to “Assessing the connection between overeducation and migration intention in Hong Kong’s young working adults”, a study conducted by our Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), overeducation tends to dissuade young people from moving to the Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). This conclusion indirectly supports a social capital theory (SCP) rather than a human capital theory (HCT) to explain why Hong Kong young people wish to invest in higher education.
In HCT, people invest in higher education in order to accumulate human capital, move up the career ladder, and increase earning potential. But in SCP, the motivation to acquire a higher education is to accumulate social capital and build social connections.
The findings show that the attitude of overeducated workers is more negative towards migration to the GBA than the attitude of adequately or undereducated workers, indicating that overeducated workers are more sensitive to the loss of social capital through migration.
“These conclusions will provide valuable input for policy makers when they review the expansion and massification of higher education in Hong Kong, and the initiatives introduced to foster regional integration between Hong Kong and Mainland China,” said Prof Joshua Ka Ho MOK, Vice-President and Director of IPS who led the project with Prof Alex Yuefeng ZHU of IPS.
“Young people in Hong Kong are not motivated mainly to enter universities for human capital, but for social capital and networking resources. So policy makers should, when steering the development of higher education, not only refer to the dynamics of the labour market, but also take into account the demand for social capital among young people,” said Prof Mok. The study also acts as reference for the HKSAR and Central governments, which are keen to encourage Hong Kong graduates with higher educational qualifications to move to the GBA.
Overeducation negatively affects attitudes towards migration to GBA
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS 18