Benefits of the IB Diploma

The IB aims to provide a balanced programme, which stimulates thought and creativity and enhances the international outlook of students. Students who satisfy the demands of the programme demonstrate a strong commitment to learning in terms of knowledge, attitudes and skills.

The purpose of the IB curriculum is to:

• Present a well-rounded education.

• Develop a skill set that will allow students to meet with success in post-secondary studies.

• Provide students with a globally recognized university entrance qualification.

• Boost students’ application profiles, as many universities recognize the enriched nature of the IB diploma when reviewing applications.

• Give students access to advanced placement at universities to accelerate their progress towards a degree.

• Challenge students in ways that most do not experience until university, when they will have less parental support.

• Promote international understanding, inter-cultural awareness and a community ethic.

• Equip students with a genuine understanding of themselves and others, heightening the capacity for tolerance and respect for different points of view.

• Develop critical-thinking and reflective skills through an academically demanding program of study that fosters research skills and independent learning, therefore creating lifelong learners.

“We very much value the learning that IB students have had through their Diploma Programme. I have personally seen, over the years that I have been in charge of admissions at HKU, that they do not just have an understanding of their subject areas, but, much more importantly, typically show levels of communication, thinking skills and all around knowledge that equip them very well for tertiary education and beyond.”

—Professor John A. Spinks

SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

The curriculum is modeled by a circle with six academic areas surrounding the three core requirements.

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

• Study six subjects chosen from the six subject groups.

• Complete an Extended Essay (EE). A requirement for students to engage in independent research through an in-depth study of a question relating to one of the subjects they are studying.

• Follow a Theory of Knowledge course (TOK). A course designed to encourage each student to refl ect on the nature of knowledge by critically examining diff erent ways of knowing (perception, emotion, language and reason) and diff erent kinds of knowledge (scientifi c, artistic, mathematical and historical).

• Participate in Creativity, Action, Service (CAS). This requires that students actively learn from the experience of engaging in real tasks beyond the classroom. Students can combine all three components or do activities related to each one of them separately.

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).