IB graduates from educational oddity to realistic alternative

The International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) has turned full circle. Regarded as peripheral, experimental and slightly radical during its formative years in the 1960s, it has now emerged as a recognised alternative to mainstream education.

That is the view of Professor George Walker, director-general of the IBO, and he explained why.

'We're seeing a profound change in attitudes towards education,' Walker said. 'The Gulf War will only serve to hasten and strengthen that change.'

Speaking before members of the Hong Kong education community last month at the Chinese International School (CIS), Walker added: 'National education doesn't mean anything. It can be positively dangerous because you can't live or educate in isolation.'

Walker has been head of the IBO since 1999, when he finished an eight year stretch as director-general of the International School of Geneva, the world's oldest and largest international school. He has taken over during a period of unprecedented growth and public interest in the IBO.

According to the IBO, there are 112 schools running the IB in the Asia Pacific alone. That number is expected to grow by 45 per cent this year and 33 per cent next.

Hong Kong has five schools offering the diploma: CIS, Li Po Chun United World College (UWC), French International School, and Yew Chung Hong Kong International School, plus Sha Tin College, part of the English Schools Foundation (ESF), which decided last month to phase out British A-levels and focus only on the diploma from the 2004-05 academic year.