School–University Transition Project
Since its foundation, the International Baccalaureate (IB) has made a number of statements concerning the characteristics gained by students as a consequence of successful participation in the Diploma Programme. Prominent among these have been claims pertaining to the potential for high academic achievement in tertiary level study, the acquisition of skills associated with “learning how to learn” and the development of “international-mindedness” emergent from the overall experience of undertaking the programme. Such claims have been supported by a number of small-scale studies (Thomas 1991; Duevel 1999; Thelin et al. 2002; Jenkins 2003; Hayden 1998; Rançiç 1998; Hayden et al. 2000; Hinrichs 2002; Gunesch 2002; Mackenzie et al. 2003) and by informal and spasmodic anecdotal feedback from those responsible for admissions and teaching in universities across the world. However, there has been little in the way of systematic research undertaken to verify these claims across the wide range of schools and higher education institutions represented throughout all the regions of the IB.
The International Baccalaureate Council of Foundation therefore commissioned the IB research team to investigate these claims. A project was formulated, termed the “School–University Transition Study”, and was monitored throughout by the IB Council of Foundation and the IB research committee. It was divided into two strands: the progress and performance strand and the international values strand, to explore the following key questions respectively.
- How does academic performance in the IB Diploma Programme relate to subsequent university performance?
- To what degree are the expressed values of international-mindedness, as they are encapsulated in the IB mission statement, made manifest by students during their experience of the IB Diploma Programme and in their subsequent university experiences?
