IB Diploma Programme

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB DP) was established in Geneva in 1968 to provide an international, and internationally recognised, university-entrance qualification for students studying outside of their home country. The IB’s goal is to provide students with the values and opportunities that will enable them to develop sound judgments, make wise choices, and respect others in the global community. The IB Programme equips students with the skills and attitudes necessary for success in higher education and employment; it has the strengths of a traditional liberal arts curriculum, but with three important additional features, shown at the center of the curriculum model (below). Today the IB DP has expanded so that more than half the students opting for it come from state or national systems rather than from international schools. As the IB DP has grown, so too has its reputation for excellence; the IB DP is now recognised in almost every country in the world as a one of the pre-eminent pre-university qualifications.

The IB Diploma Programme is a two-year (Grade 11 & 12, or ages 16-19) international curriculum that allows students to fulfil the requirements for university entrance of their national or state education systems. Internationally mobile students are able to transfer into the IB Diploma Programme from other IB World Schools, as well as from other school systems.

The IB Diploma Curriculum

Over the course of the two-year programme, students:

• study six subjects chosen from the six subject groups
• complete an extended essay (EE)
• follow a theory of knowledge course (TOK)
• participate in creativity, action, service (CAS)

Normally, three of the six subjects are studied at higher level (courses representing 240 teaching hours). The remaining three subjects are studied at standard level (courses representing 150 teaching hours).