By Liaw Wy-Chin

THE number of top students bound for university who are eyeing civil service careers went up in the past year.

Where under a quarter - 23 per cent - last year said they wanted public-sector jobs, more than a third - 34 per cent - did so this year.

Banking and financial service jobs, however, remained a top choice among them despite the recent upheavals in the industry. These figures come from a recent poll, the 2009 BrightSparks Scholarship Rankings and Career Survey.

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