Qualification requirements for civil service posts are normally set with reference to qualifications obtainable under the local education system or from local institutions, including Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE), Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) and the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE) qualifications.

The HKDSE results are accepted by the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) of the Hong Kong SAR Government for civil service appointment purpose from 20 July 2012 onwards. Details are as follows:

A candidate attaining results in five subjects in the HKDSE in any combination of the following will be regarded as having met the requirement of '5 passes in HKCEE':

• Level 2* in Senior Secondary subjects
• 'Attained' in Applied Learning (ApL) subjects (subject to a maximum of two ApL subjects), and
• Grade e in Other Languages subjects

*Starting from 2021/22, the Education Bureau replaced the Liberal Studies with the subject Citizenship and Social Development (CS). The first examination for the subject CS will be administered in the 2024 HKDSE and the results will be reported as ‘Attained’ or ‘Unattained’. The CSB announced on 22 September 2023 that the result of ‘Attained’ in the subject CS will be accepted as meeting the entry requirements of relevant civil service grades, i.e. ‘Attained’ in the subject CS will be accepted as meeting one of the five level 2 requirements.

A candidate attaining results in five subjects in HKDSE in any combination of the following will be regarded as having met the requirement for “2A3O”:

• Level 3 in Senior Secondary subjects
• ‘Attained with Distinction’ in ApL subjects (subject to a maximum of two ApL subjects), and
• Grade c in Other Languages subjects

For information about the recruitment of civil service jobs, please visit: Civil Service Bureau.