Yale? Stanford? Cambridge? Harvard? Melbourne? - IB World ...

ib africa | europe | middle east
IB Africa, Europe and Middle East
IBCC
The new IB Career-related Certificate (IBCC) has been
the centre of much interest within the region and over
30 IB World Schools have applied for candidate status
for first teaching in September 2012.
The IBCC embodies the IB learner profile and is unique
in its offering. It is an academic qualification taken
alongside a career-related qualification of the school’s
choice. Unique to the IBCC is a core that includes
community and service, an approach to learning (ATL)
course and a reflective project. Taken together they
enhance individual critical thinking and intercultural
understanding. Furthermore, students develop the
communication and personal skills necessary for
success. Surrounding the unique IBCC core is the
requirement of a minimum of two Diploma
Programme courses and the acquisition of language
skills. This carefully constructed learning framework
includes the IB philosophy already experienced by
existing IB students and makes it accessible to a wider
cohort of learners. The framework forms an effective
link between the academic requirements of an IB
qualification and the practical requirements of a
career-related course.
60 | IB World Schools Yearbook 2012
The IBCC is designed to provide a ‘value added’
offering to those schools that already offer the IB
Diploma Programme and enables schools to widen
participation to an IB education. Schools retain the
ability to choose the career-related courses that are
most suited to the needs of their students.
Research
The first study that compared the IB Diploma
Programme with UK A levels demonstrated the
strength of the IB diploma curriculum globally. The
study on the performance of IB Diploma Programme
students in the UK post secondary system as compared
to students with A level or equivalent qualifications,
conducted by the Higher Education Statistics Agency
(HESA) on behalf of the International Baccalaureate,
showed that a higher percentage of IB students achieve
a first class honours award compared to students
holding A levels or equivalent qualifications. IB
Diploma Programme entrants are more likely to be
enrolled at one of the UK’s top 20 higher education
institutions (HEIs) than entrants holding other
qualifications.
The report provided an overview of IB student
characteristics and analysis of enrolment patterns at
the top HEIs, chosen fields of study, achievement and
non-continuation rates, as well as activities
approximately six months after leaving HEIs.
Key findings included:
Achievement – approximately a fifth (19%) of IB
entrants with a full-time first degree achieved a first
class honours award compared to 14.5% of first
degree qualifiers who held A level or equivalent
qualifications. IB entrants are almost twice as likely
to study medicine and dentistry (5.1%) as A level
entrants (2.9%). More than double the number of IB
entrants attended the top HEIs compared with A
level entrants, when taken in proportion.
Continuation rates (measure of attrition/dropout) –
results show that across most subject areas IB
entrants were less likely to leave their institution in
the following year without gaining an award, than
entrants holding other types of qualifications. 91.1%
of IB entrants continued at the same institution
compared to 89.5% for A level entrants.