Abstract

The International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma was founded in 1968 to provide a common pre-university curriculum and a recognised qualification for students in international schools throughout the world. Many authors, including Peterson (1987), Fox (1998), Hill (2002) and others, have described a committed attempt to create an innovative curriculum intended to foster international attitudes and awareness, with foundations in the academic, interdisciplinary tradition of comparative education. Although the first IB diploma schools were predominantly private international schools, a small number of private national institutions and schools run and managed by state education departments were also among the early adopters of the programme. The situation has changed over the 40 year history of the IB diploma. Today over half of the 2000+ IB diploma programme schools are state schools, and a full two thirds of all IB diploma recipients are now earning their diplomas in their home countries; although in Asia, many of those students will opt for tertiary studies abroad. This paper explores the tertiary migration patterns of IB diploma students from the Asia Pacific region. It considers both those students who study the diploma within their home country and those studying outside their home country. Tertiary migratory trends are presented for IB diploma programme cohorts over a period of several years. Distinct patterns of student migration have emerged and have been categorized. A number of push/pull factors for students choosing tertiary locations locally and abroad are considered. This paper concurs with the utilitarian notion that the IB diploma as a global academic passport is an increasingly significant value proposition for students with widened tertiary options and very different imagined futures.