As one of the fastest-growing educational programmes available in over 27 countries worldwide, the International Baccalaureate Career-Related Programme (IBCP) was designed specifically to prepare modern students for life in the 21st century.
This flexible and balanced programme is an ideal training ground for students looking towards both higher education and the workplace, as we will explore in this two-part article. You can read more about the structure of this course, which was recently introduced at Haut-Lac International Bilingual school with this interview, on our site.
Do Universities Accept CP Students?
As students, you may be wondering just how this course can prepare you for both the working world and university. Will universities really accept students with an IBCP diploma? The answer is yes, they already do. The bigger question is WHY?
The International Baccalaureate’s Prestige
As a modern programme devised by the International Baccalaureate (IB), the CP benefits from the IB’s worldwide renown and prestige as a rigorous educational model.
Universities are already very familiar with the IB and the kind of student it turns out. Given the academic strength and global perspective they display, most universities are very keen to accept graduates who have been through the IB framework.
The IBCP requires students to take 2 Diploma Programme (DP) subjects, although Haut-Lac requires students to take 3 to highlight their academic strength. The other elements of the CP course place their learning in a real-life context. Reducing the number of subjects studied enables students to tighten their focus whilst ensuring they can pursue further studies in those areas at university should they wish to.
Demonstration of Necessary and Relevant Skills
Students who undertake the CP demonstrate great intercultural understanding and develop such maturity that they can handle any professional situation with ease and confidence. The education in ethics, principles and codes of behavior that they receive makes them very reliable, enticing candidates for university.
What’s more, the IBCP will equip students with the practical and academic skills most needed at university. As one graduate attests, “The CP gives you many advantages since you arrive at university with knowledge others don’t have.”
An example of this is the reflective project CP students must complete, which sees them explore an ethical dilemma linked to their particular career-related study. The skills developed for this task will showcase the academic quality and deftness of thought CP students possess, as well as solid research and planning skills which many other students only develop later on at university.
Established Higher Education Pathway
At Haut-Lac International Bilingual School, the IBCP is offered in sustainable business management, in partnership with SUMAS University in Gland. This agreement will see Haut-Lac International Bilingual School CP graduates, who pass the programme, automatically accepted onto a first year course of the same name at SUMAS.
The same agreement stands for our second IBCP option in Art& Design with the Savannah University of Art and Design (SCAD). Students with a creative interest will love this course, which will open up their entry into the creative industry.
Past IBCP students have since attended the following universities and many more besides. As our higher guidance counselor remarked, the CP is also a particularly interesting course for US universities. He said “Soft skills, which are a way of showing the level of one’s time and work management capabilities, are attractive to universities. They want rounded students with interesting personalities to add to their student body, so extra-curriculars, voluntary work and tangible results from programmes like the IBCP all look very good on a US application.”
Therefore, if you are tempted by the CP but are unsure how it might look to universities, have no fear. The speed with which the IBCP is growing in popularity is a testament to its success, which some experts predict will enable it to overtake many other end-of-school programmes in years to come. The world is changing and so is the way that students take their first steps into the world.
Demonstrating practical, hands-on experience holds immense value on a CV. Having that experience under your belt by the time you leave university could therefore put you at a considerable advantage over your peers when the time comes to apply for jobs. The CP, with its popular, flexible and modern approach, will give you this and so much more as it carries you into the world well-equipped and ready to face it.
To read about the advantages of the CP for students preparing for the workplace, be sure to come back for part 2.