Universities and colleges benefit from recruiting and admitting students from IB programmes in a range of ways, with IB programmes developing the knowledge, skills and disposition students need to be successful throughout their university careers.
As a result of their time in the IB, students develop:
- time management skills and a strong sense of self-motivation
- a keen interest in civic engagement
- notable academic ability
- strong research and writing skills
- critical thinking abilities
- an international outlook.
Research suggests, for example, that IB students are more likely than their peers to complete their undergraduate degrees and pursue graduate work; and that they are more likely to be engaged in various aspects of university life.
According to the research, IB students are strong on:
- student leadership activities
- working with university faculty on research projects
- finding opportunities to study in other countries
- tutoring other students
- taking part in voluntary and community service
- completing internships.
In order to maximise the opportunities for IB students at their institutions, many universities and colleges develop recognition policies making it clear how IB students gain places on their courses.
You can find model recognition policies for universities on the IB website.
Learn more about how to attract IB students to your institution.
Quality assurance in IB assessment
As an international programme with students all over the world, higher education institutions are always interested in how the the IB safeguards the rigour and consistency of the Diploma Programme (DP), our programme for 16-19-year-olds.
The IB takes several measures to ensure validity and reliability of asessment methods, while measuring a great range of students' skills and abilities – beyond just content knowledge.
As a mark of its rigour, it is noteworthy that average scores and pass rates have remained consistent over several years.
Further, DP curriculum and assessment has been compared with various other qualifications over the last 10 years – with overall findings being very favourable for the DP.
Read about assessment methods in the DP.
