The Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC) was established in the Faculty of Education of the University of Hong Kong in 1994. Among its functions are dissemination of information through publications, seminars, symposia and conferences. This is the first comparative work of its kind. The study involves 1,662 students in selected secondary schools, and 54 guidance teachers, careers officers and careers masters/mistresses in Shanghai, Edinburgh and Hong Kong. These three cities are instructive for their contrasts as much as for their similarities. One shows the legacy of socialism, while the other two have longstanding capitalist traditions. Two of the three are Chinese societies, while the third is European. Points of analysis include criteria for choosing a career, occupational preferences, people who influence students’ choice of careers, variables that influence students’ higher education and job expectations, and the changing process of students’ occupational aims during their secondary school years. The book also examines students’ careers guidance needs and the main careers guidance methods. It proposes a new theoretical basis for schools to set up careers guidance programmes.