Kampala International School Uganda (KISU) today is holding their 10th graduation ceremony in honour of students who have completed the internationally acclaimed International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme.
A total of twenty one (21) students, will receive their completion certificates from KISU ahead of the full release of the examination results by the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) later this year.
The students according to Mr. Steve Lang, the School Director are headed to a variety of universities around the world to study a variety of courses.
IB Diploma, according to Mr. Lang, is the “most prestigious qualification for students leaving international secondary school. It is recognized by over 600 universities over the world, including all the Ivy League schools in America and Russell group in the UK.”
The Russell Group’s 24 members are world-class, research-intensive universities. They among others, include University of Cambridge, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Oxford University of Edinburgh, University of Leeds and the University of Birmingham.
Ivy League on the other hand is a group of top 8 universities in the US, that among others include Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth College.
KISU is one of few international schools offering the IB Diploma in Uganda-affording Ugandan students and parents alike, local access to international quality education. With the IB Diploma being offered locally, it is no longer relevant to send children to very expensive high schools in Europe and the Americas to prepare them for University education. Other than the cost savings involved, it also allows students to have the best of both school-based and home-based learning, until such a time they are mature and independent enough to join university.
Mr. Lang also said that although results of the final exams were not yet out, he was confident that his students would perform well.
“Generally our students have on average performed well- above the world average. The World average is 29 points while KISU students have always scored an average 31 points,” he said, adding that most of the KISU students are already lined up for scholarships in American and Canadian universities- worth over USD500,000.
KISU is a non-selective, co-educational school for 2-18 year olds, offering an enhanced English National Curriculum for 2-14 year olds, followed by 2-year IGCSE (Cambridge) courses for 14-16 year olds, and finally the pre–university IB Diploma Programme for 16-18 year olds.
The school has over 600 students from more than 60 nationalities. Staff are drawn mainly from the UK, Canada, Australia, USA, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Uganda. This ensures a wide exposure to cultures and languages. The school is part of the Ruparelia Group.