Regional manager lauds new conversion formula for International Baccalaureate students

Founded in 1968, the International Baccalaureate (IB), which is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, pioneered a movement of international education and now offers four high-quality, challenging educational programmes to students aged between three and 19 years.

The IB currently engages with more than two million students in over 5,500 schools across 160 countries. Uzma Shujjat, the regional manager of IB for Pakistan, Iran, and the Nordic region, in a recent interview with reporters discussed the growth of the IB in Pakistan and its uniqueness compared to longstanding educational systems.

“The driving principle behind IB is to create a better world through education. The curriculum is designed specifically to encourage learning through experience, where learners are given a diverse, unique, and challenging education that gives them skills that would help them survive in the modern world and also make it a better place to live in,” she shared.

She added that students emerging from IB programmes were multilingual thinkers who could comfortably live, work and make a difference in the world. The IB offers four challenging educational programmes, designed to develop well-rounded individuals who can respond to challenges with optimism and an open mind. Students start with the Primary Years Programme (PYP) from age 3, advance through the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and choose their own pathway to university or a career through the Diploma Programme (DP) or the Career-related Programme (CP), completing their IB studies at around 19 years of age.

Uzma lauded a recent decision by the Inter-Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC) Equivalence Committee to improve the conversion formula for IB students and bring it at par with the Cambridge system education.