ROUND UP
The International Baccalaureate: a distinct advantage
In June of this year, the IB launched a brand
new CP package in the UK for students who want to gain practical experience in the finance sector. In collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment (CISI), the new finance and investments CP package offers students the opportunity to forge direct links with CISI member companies, such as Morgan Stanley, Barclays, BNP Paribas and HSBC, the majority of which offer apprenticeship programmes for CP graduates. This industry-focused package enables students
to achieve a maximum of 200 revised UCAS points while also gaining valuable personal and interpersonal skills, helping CP students to secure university places, apprenticeships or employment in the finance industry. All CP students who undertake the new pathway also receive CISI student membership. IB Programmes encourage students to excel in
L
ast month, almost 5,000 UK students received their International Baccalaureate
(IB) Diploma Programme (DP) and Career- related Programme (CP) exam results and, by doing so, have joined a community of more than 1,493,820 IB graduates who are spread across 136 countries. The DP is widely praised for its breadth and
depth of study. Unlike the more traditional A Level route, where students reduce the number of subjects studied post 16 quite drastically, the DP includes six different subject groups, providing students with more opportunities (and two more years) to discover what their passions are. DP students select their strongest three subjects to study at higher level, alongside an additional three subjects at standard level, enabling them to continue six subjects on to 18, before they are asked to make decisions that may affect their future opportunities by reducing their breadth of study. Universities in the UK have a very positive
attitude to DP applicants as IB students are well known for developing a broad range of essential skills, alongside academic knowledge, and so are well prepared for higher education. The Higher Education Statistics Agency report, published
earlier this year, compares the outcomes of IB and A Level students in higher education, and clearly demonstrates that IB students make excellent progress at university. In particular, the report shows that between 2012 and 2013, 46 percent of DP students achieved places to study at one of the top 20 UK universities, compared to 33 percent of A Level students. DP students were also shown to have a significantly greater likelihood of earning a first class honours degree than their A Level peers. Students with a specific career in mind at age
16, may be better suited to the CP, a sister programme of the DP that offers students the chance to pursue a particular vocational course, in their preferred pathway, and so gain the relevant insight and experience that employers seek. The CP is a flexible programme that allows schools to create their own distinct offering to meet the needs, backgrounds, ambitions and learning contexts of their particular students, and packages a career-related qualification alongside at least two elements from the DP course, and a unique CP ‘core’, which consists of a reflective project, an additional language course, service learning, and a personal and professional skills course.
Adrian Kearney is the Regional Director of the International Baccalaureate’s Africa, Europe and Middle East (AEM) office. The AEM team provides educational services to 1,000 schools in more than 85 countries.
uFor more information, please contact
ibaem.development@
ibo.org or visit
www.ibo.org/uk
July/August 2016
www.education-today.co.uk 41
both their academic studies and personal development too. Students are encouraged to try different approaches to learning and take responsibility for their own educational progress. Every IB student is required to study a second language, which further opens doors for students in the UK and overseas; in an increasingly globalised world, IB students have a distinct advantage.
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