PR90454

GENEVA, July 5, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

Tomorrow, July 6, more than 170,000 students across the world will have

received their International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP), and

Career-related Programme (CP) results from the May 2021 examination session.

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The IB is incredibly proud of our new Diploma Programme and Career-related

Programme graduates who persevered throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and reached

this milestone. This could not have been accomplished without the IB

community's unwavering commitment and support.

Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Director General of the International Baccalaureate, said:

"The last 18 months have been incredibly challenging for students, teachers,

and schools throughout the world as COVID-19 has undermined much of what we had

come to take for granted. I salute their spirit and dedication to our shared

mission: education for a better world.

A key responsibility of the IB this year has been to ensure that our students

are not disadvantaged by the pandemic, including in their applications to

university and higher education. The many changes we have made to this summer's

session are part of this commitment to ensure students are not affected by the

hugely challenging circumstances in which they have been learning.

We understand the pressure being put on the whole education system by COVID-19,

and we thank all our partners, including universities, for their support and

understanding as we have navigated our way through this challenging time."

This year the IB's priority has been to provide students equal opportunity to

progress after the global disruption due to COVID-19, regardless of whether

students sat the examinations or were assessed by the non-exam route. We have

carefully considered the impact of the pandemic on students.

IB teams have regularly spoken to educators to ensure they receive updates and

information to support their work in the most trying circumstances. We also

worked with government regulators across the world regarding local context,

restrictions and the impact of COVID-19 on students.

Schools were surveyed to determine which of two pathways was best for their

context: written examinations, where they could be administered safely, or the

non-exam route using a combination of internal assessment coursework and

teacher-predicted grades, where they could not.

On the decision to adopt a system for 2021 with dual routes, the IB Heads

Council said: "We believe that the IB's approach to the May 2021 examination

session -- in which schools that could sit the exams did so -- was the fairest

possible solution.  We also believe the non-exam route for allocating results

to students who were unable to take exams was fair, clear and allowed for

grades to be distributed that reflect their achievements and abilities."

The IB worked closely with universities and education ministries to maintain

and encourage the recognition of the IB qualifications. During the COVID-19

pandemic, the IB continued to engage in ongoing conversations and provided

universities and ministries with regular updates, including webinars.

We have received messages of support from a wide range of universities across

the world.

"The University of Warwick is mindful of the disruption and anxiety that many

students have experienced over the past year; we confirm that we will happily

accept IB results awarded in 2021 in the same way that we would in any other

year" – University of Warwick, UK.

"Cornell University looks forward to welcoming many more new IB students this

year. We've followed IBO's careful, ongoing plans for student safety and

progress during COVID disruptions. We remain confident about IB rigor and

adapted assessments, and we will continue to accept IB scores as accurate

indications of students' preparation"-- Cornell University, USA

Results Overview Data:

    - The number of candidates for the May 2021 session is 170,660 and for

      the May 2020 174,360;

    - Out of 170,660 students, 104,275 were in the non-exam route and

      65,576 in the exam route (and 809 split between both routes);

    - The number of the Diploma Programme candidates for the May 2021

      session is 87,307 and for the May 2020 session 86,657;

    - The average diploma score for the May 2021 session is 33.02 points,

      up from 31.34 in May 2020;

    - The number of students achieving 40-45 points is 15,513, up from

      9,701 in May 2020;

    - The average diploma grade is 5.19, up from 4.95 in May 2020;

    - Diploma pass rate 88.96%, up from 85.18% in May 2020.

The IB will be publishing its first interim statistical bulletin in the next

few weeks. Find more information on the May 2021 Examination session here: (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3217237-1&h=4004373059&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ibo.org%2Fprogrammes%2Fdiploma-programme%2Fassessment-and-exams%2Funderstanding-assessment-during-covid-19%2F&a=here

).

For more information, please contact:

Stephanie Ban

+1-301-202-3169 or

media@ibo.org.

SOURCE: International Baccalaureate