Uni hosting first IB student conference

The University of Warwick will be working with the RSA Academy in Tipton and the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) to host the first IB World Student Conference (IBWSC) in August 2013.

The IBWSC is entitled Utopian Visions: Employing the Arts for Social and Political Change. It will bring together IB students from around the world in order to explore how the creative arts and the media can be used to both review and challenge society and politics.

Students will also be able to appreciate how learning and understanding can be developed through the creative arts and creative activity.

The University has been and continues to be greatly supportive of the IB program. Warwick currently has over 1000 IB graduates enrolled on undergraduate programmes and it continues to welcome applications from other IB students.

The IB Diploma, a rival of the British A-levels, requires students to take six subjects from the Literature, Mathematics, Sciences, Humanities and Second Language categories, with the Arts being optional.

Each subject is graded out of seven points, with three bonus points from the Theory of Knowledge course and an extended essay, accumulating to a total of 45 IB points.

Crystal Yuen, a first-year law student who managed to achieve 40 IB points, said: “The IB was tough but this trained my time management and self-motivation to work.

“Unlike the A-levels, it is good for people who have a wide range of interests, for example, someone who appreciates various areas of the arts and the sciences. I am also really grateful for having done the 4000-word extended essay as word limits don’t scare me anymore.”

Ali Mortlock, a first-year psychology student who took A-levels commented: “I don’t think it is fair to say that the IB is better than A-levels. The IB is for people who don’t really know what to do.

“A-levels are for people who know what they want to do and want to specialise. And for these people, the IB may be unnecessarily challenging and will cover too many subject areas unnecessarily.”