First Year University Experience of IB Graduates

IB Conference of the Americas

San Antonio, Texas

July 2011

Michael Bluhm

Associate Director, Undergraduate Admissions

Overview

• About UBC

• IB student enrolment at UBC

• IB student experience at UBC

• IB student performance at UBC

The University of British Columbia

• Campuses in Vancouver and Kelowna, BC, Canada

• Over 50,000 students

• Global citizenship, service learning, and

integrated/interdisciplinary first-year programs

• Highly competitive admission; 88% mean entrance average

• Admission based on academic information and (increasingly)

broad-based admission criteria

• Top post–sec destination of IB transcripts in the world

• Approx. 10% of direct-entry applicants are IB Diploma

Vancouver, British Columbia

UBC Vancouver Campus

Kelowna, British Columbia

UBC Okanagan Campus

IB Student Enrolment at UBC

IB student enrolment at UBC

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

applicants 948 1268 1543 1929 2501 2295 2711

admits 703 1012 1257 1460 1756 1935 2252

registrants 261 387 462 562 670 676 800

applicant nationalities

79 88 87 98 117 108 108

registrant nationalities

37 45 55 53 68 61 68

Origin of first-year IB registrants at UBC, 2011

Americas59%

Africa/Europe/Middle East

14%

Asia-Pacific27%

Compare to non-IB registrant origin, 2011

Americas82%

Africa/Europe/Middle East

3%

Asia-Pacific

15%

Americas59%

Africa/Europe/M

iddle East14%

Asia-Pacific

27%

Non-IBIB

Enrolment by program, 2011

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

non-IB

IB

IB Student Experience at UBC

First year experience: what IB students have to say

•New to UBC Survey

•National Survey of Student Engagement

New to UBC (NUBC)

•Measures characteristics and expectations of incoming UBC students

•Measures how expectations change after first semester

•Survey questions developed specifically for UBC’s learning environment and strategic plan

•Overall response rate of 64.2% achieved for direct entrants

NUBC responses

•Respondents rated their ability in the following areas on a 6 point scale (very poor, poor, fair, good, very good, excellent)

•Results displayed show % of respondents who rated “very good” or “excellent”

•Results displayed are those with statistically significant effect sizes, 2009 (Vancouver campus only)

NUBC – start of 1st semester

SKILL/ABILITY IB Non-IB

Research skills 35% 9%

Library skills 24% 9%

Ability to read and comprehend academic material 43% 21%

Ability to prepare and make a presentation 47% 22%

Analytical and critical thinking skills 38% 21%

Ability to be clear and effective when writing 40% 20%

Ability to take personal social responsibility 55% 47%

Ability to work as a team member 50% 40%

Ability to motivate and lead others toward a goal (leadership skills) 38% 28%

Ability to speak clearly and effectively in English 72% 60%

Quantitative (mathematical and statistical) skills 31% 27%

Ability to appreciate racial and ethnic diversity 76% 63%

NUBC – end of 1st semester

Skill/Ability IB Non-IB

Library skills 48% 27%

Research skills 53% 37%

Ability to prepare and make a presentation 43% 29%

Ability to read and comprehend academic material 62% 43%

Analytical and critical thinking skills 51% 41%

Quantitative (mathematical and statistical) skills 34% 31%

Ability to appreciate cultural and global diversity 84% 72%

Ability to take personal social responsibility 65% 58%

Ability to be clear and effective when writing 46% 37%

Ability to understand and appreciate aboriginal cultures 32% 38%

Ability to speak clearly and effectively in English 77% 66%

NUBC – first semester experience

“I am able to balance my academic time and my non-academic time.”

IB Non-IB

61% 55%

NUBC – first semester experience

In which of the following activities have you participated in at UBC? IB non-IB

participate in a conference 24% 19%

student leadership activities 30% 16%

research with a faculty member 7% 5%

volunteer work 54% 30%

community service as part of a class 12% 9%

student government 6% 3%

political activities (e.g. local, municipal, provincial, federal other than

student government)

9% 4%

tutoring or teaching other students (paid or voluntary) 21% 11%

attend special lectures 38% 29%

join an intramural team 15% 15%

mentoring programs (student to student, alumni to student) 11% 8%

student club or organization 63% 46%

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

•More than 1,200 institutions in Canada and US, since 1999 with approximately 450,000 first and senior year respondents in 2008

•125+ questions and 5 composite engagement benchmarks

•http://nsse.iub.edu

•Results displayed are for 2008, UBC Vancouver campus only

NSSE 2008 – How do IB students stand out?

I plan to… IB Non-IB

…work on a research project with a faculty member outside of course or program requirements

39.7% 30.8%

NSSE 2008 – How do IB students stand out?

I plan to… IB Non-IB

…study abroad. 59.9% 48.8%

NSSE 2008 – How do IB students stand out?

I plan to… IB Non-IB

…do a practicum, internship, field experience, co-op experience, or clinical assignment.

75.4% 68.5%

IB Student Performance at UBC

Academic performance research

• Began with study of accuracy of anticipated grades

(2004 – 2007)

• Identified systemic causes for differences between

anticipated vs final IB grades

• Impetus for regressional analysis to calibrate IB

anticipated grades with BC high school grades,

based on first-year performance at UBC

• Resulted in new scale used in UBC admissions

which recognises more students on lower end of IB

scale

Using a linear regression to predict first-year performance

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45

Pre

dic

ted

fir

st-y

ear

pe

rfo

rman

ce a

t U

BC

(%

)

IB Anticipated Diploma Scores

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45

Pre

dic

ted

fir

st-y

ear

pe

rfo

rman

ce a

t U

BC

(%

)

IB Anticipated Diploma Scores

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

70 75 80 85 90 95 100

Pre

dic

ted

fir

st-y

ear

pe

rfo

rman

ce a

t U

BC

(%

)

BC sec school Spring admission avg. (%)

Mapping IB performance to BC high school, 2003 - 2006

Anticipated IB Diploma grades Spring BC 12 admission averages

Revised calibration for IB and BC high school grades

20

25

30

35

40

45

75 80 85 90 95 100

IB a

nti

cip

ate

d d

iplo

ma

sco

res

BC secondary school spring admission average (%)

Previous Revised

Revised: IB Diploma scores calibrated to %

IB 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45

% 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

IB 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45

% 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

old scale:

new scale:

C+ to A range

B+ to A range

Implications

• IB diploma holders typically perform at the same or

higher level as B-average high school students at

UBC

• An IB Diploma student with an anticipated score of

29 is expected to perform at the same level as an

A-average high school student at UBC

Summary

• A growing pool of research exists regarding IB

graduates in higher education.

• IB graduates tend to be better prepared to adjust

to the academic environment of higher education.

• IB graduates tend to pursue and be involved in the

kinds of experiences valued by many institutions.

• IB graduates at all levels tend to perform well

academically.

Michael BluhmAssociate Director, Undergraduate AdmissionsThe University of British Columbia

email: michael.bluhm@ubc.caphone: 604.822.9489

Questions?