The high school diploma International is a growing reality in the educational systems of the world and our country is no stranger to it. Specifically, 78 academic centers in Spain -almost 4,000 in the world- teach this modality which, almost half a century after its birth, continues to expand through a global, thought-provoking teaching that continues to generate important academic results.

"The strengths of the high school diploma International are its Education in critical thinking, that putting oneself in the place of the other, but also its commitment to reflection and creativity, always linked to a cross-cutting teaching of subjects and content," says Marie-Anne Reynell, director of development of the School of Education and Psychology. This subject of teaching is not common in a Spanish system educational in which "the content is memorized and then dumped in an exam" and that "does not invite to develop the necessary skills to work in a society of permanent changes, which is accelerating technologically and that few can predict. Knowledge quickly becomes obsolete and what must remain is the ability to adapt, flexibility and creativity".

In this sense, it is very interesting to see how IB students are trained in research skills that in higher programs of study become increasingly relevant. "Knowing how to cite well when enquiry bibliography , knowing the style of writing in research papers, avoiding plagiarism and malpractice, among others, are some of the points that IB students work on in the classroom," says Reynell.

Likewise, the artistic and service component is a distinctive grade of the International that forms, in Reynell's words, "a sense of belonging to a global world that is also focused on serving people. high school diploma International that forms, in Reynell's words, "a sense of belonging to a global world, which is also focused on serving people."

For his part, Angel Sobrino, Deputy Director of research of the School of Education and Psychology, highlights the role of the IB in the programs of study higher "facilitating access to the best universities in the world" for all those students who want to study their programs of study abroad.

Similarly, Sobrino affirms that the figure of the teacher acquires greater relevance in the programs of study de high school diploma International being this "an enhancer of learning and a person who accompanies the student on the way to its final goal ".