International Baccalaureate drops student examination registration fee

The International Baccalaureate (IB) has announced that it is eliminating the $172 / £138 candidate registration fee that students traditionally pay (as a cost separate from individual IB subject exams) to reduce financial barriers for students and schools

This decision to lower per student assessment costs is intended to help more students worldwide afford additional subject examinations or pursue a full IB Diploma Programme, as well as help more schools join the community of more than 5000 IB World Schools worldwide. 

Dr Siva Kumari, the IB’s Director General, said: "A key part of our mission is to continue developing our organisation for the international student community youth who are well-rounded, multilingual and open-minded citizens—a new generation educated in ways that enable them to respond thoughtfully to global, national and local challenges.

"Facing imminent global changes and a new industrial revolution of technology and AI, IB's focus on preparing the future workforce to be agile learners and critical thinkers is more relevant and necessary than ever.”

Elimination of the registration fee is the latest in a series of decisions by the IB to ease financial burdens to open up access. It recently provided discounts for schools that offer three or more IB programs and expanded its ongoing investments in professional development for IB educators, offering some of its courses at no charge.

After investing in technology that modernised IB's assessment systems over the past 10 years, and as a result of careful management of its costs, the IB is able to pass along the financial benefits directly to students and schools, Kumari noted. 

Haif Bannayan, the IB’s Director of Outreach and Conferences, said: "We are focused on developing the deep and broad thinkers that the world needs in the 4th industrial revolution. Developing agile and thoughtful learners is fundamental to IB's educational philosophy and that is why we believe that our world-class model for 21st century workforce development must be more accessible."