| dc.description.abstract | Making the best use or taking the best advantage from knowledge and skills gained through education at the work place is one of the most important measures of the success of school-to-work transition process, particularly in the fast growing emerging countries like China, where education has been paid greater attention year by year both economically and politically. In China, students begin a long-term battle from the day they step into the school gate (or even way before that as the current tendency shows) until they finally get an ideal job, which in Chinese is called as a golden rice-bowl position , ensuring the stability of one s career. And working as civil servant, as being such a position has gained dramatically more popularity these years, causing the so-called civil servant fever , not only in mainland China, but also in Hong Kong. Looking at what kind of people with what kind of education and experience can successfully transform themselves into this gold rush is extremely meaningful and of public interest. After all, the global goal of education is to make individuals suitable to live in society and equipped with the survival skills to the most possible extent. Using the human capital theory, conflict theory and modernisation theory of education, this study analysed the major characteristics of successful candidates in the national civil servant examinations in both mainland China and Hong Kong, namely China under two different educational systems. In further steps we can find out what kind of people are capable to hold this golden rice bowl and how his/her educational background has played a role in this career determination. Problems continue to exist in both the educational systems and school-to-work transition process in Chinese society and these are also indicated during the study when the effectiveness of the exam is evaluated. The study applies a comparative design using a mixed method where the qualitative method takes a major position. The exam content of each region is quantitatively evaluated and individual interviews are held respectively among successful candidates. Nine individuals from each region who have taken and succeeded in the national civil servant examination were involved in the study. Furthermore, one representative of the officials in education from each region was also chosen as interviewee to express ideas from a different perspective. Data collection was based on the quantitative analysis and interview results. The findings and results in this study indicate that the interview groups in the two regions reveal society-specific factors that demonstrate their motivations in applying for a civil service position. The comparative analysis found out that Hong Kong, with a better established apprenticeship system has a significantly longer transition time (namely, from school to the civil service position) than mainland China, but the whole school-to-work transition process in Hong Kong is much smoother than that in mainland China, with regard to the fact that university students in Hong Kong can usually find a full-time job quickly after leaving school. In both mainland China and Hong Kong candidates need to go through at least two exam stages including both written part and the job interview. And in both regions the rise of wage of civil servants is comparatively slow compared to other careers, showing the stability and inflexibility of this career. The research results indicate that the quality of higher education, especially in terms of how well a university is ranked, is highly valued in mainland China. Whilst in Hong Kong, civil service employers tend to favour candidates with good social and communication abilities. Mainland China emphasises greatly on the written test result while Hong Kong only requires solid and basic competence in the content of written part. The differences of examination content show a range of different social values and national context in these two regions. A series of factors also indicate that the economic performance as a result of educational investment is stronger in Stage 4 country (mainland China) than Stage 5 country (Hong Kong) based on the modernisation theory. | eng |