International Baccalaureate

UWC has played a pivotal role in the creation and development of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma.

UWC teaches the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) in all of its schools and colleges and has played an important role in its development since it was introduced.

The IB Diploma was created by a group of teachers from three international schools - International School of Geneva, UWC Atlantic Colllege and the UN School of New York. It was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968. UWC Atlantic College was one of the seven schools that piloted the IB Diploma alongside UK A-levels, and became the first school in the world to abandon its own national curriculum in favour of the IB in 1971.

The new programme emphasised broad academic achievement and the development of intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills needed to live, learn and work in an increasingly disparate world. This original programme, aimed primarily at 16- to 19-year-old students, has today grown into three programmes for students aged from three to 19, and each year is followed by more than half a million students from public and private schools in 125 countries.

UWC has played a key role in developing the IB Diploma through developing and updating school-based syllabi. These are additional standard level courses which any school teaching the IB can develop and teach upon approval from the IB. Over the years, nine UWC schools and colleges have developed school-based syllabi some of which have since become mainstream IB subjects. More about UWC and School Based Syllabi.

As well as these important contributions, UWC teachers are very active in many other ways as Jeff Thompson, Professor Emeritus of Education, University of Bath and member of the UWC Council explains:

“The IB relies heavily on the central participation of teachers throughout the world in its work of reviewing and evaluating existing curricula, introducing new programmes, conducting training workshops, and in undertaking the examining and assessment of student work for the award of its Diploma. In all these respects, UWC staff continue to contribute to the IB.”

UWC and the IB worked in partnership to establish UWC in Mostar in 2006, the first and only educational institution in Bosnia Herzegovina to teach students from all ethnic groups the same curriculum. The college was founded as a joint initiative of UWC and the International Baccalaureate.