Debated in Parliament on 18 Feb 2014.
Assoc Prof Tan Kheng Boon Eugene asked the Minister for Education (a) what are the mean and median A-Level and International Baccalaureate (IB) scores of students admitted to each of the Autonomous Universities for each
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year between 2009 and 2013; (b) whether the IB ranks the scores obtained by IB candidates and whether there is a limit on how many students can receive the top marks; and (c) whether the IB qualification provides an advantage or disadvantage or is of neutral effect in the Autonomous Universities' admission process.
As a guide to prospective applicants, the Universities publish the indicative grade profiles (IGP) for each course annually, providing the representative grade profiles of the 10th and 90th percentiles of A-Level and Polytechnic applicants who are offered places. This information is available on the admissions pages of the Universities' websites. The IGP of International Baccalaureate (IB) scores are not published as the number of IB students matriculated into the Universities is not large enough to be statistically significant.
The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) oversees the award of the IB diploma. Generally, less than 1% of IB candidates obtain the full score of 45 points worldwide. Summary statistics of international IB scores are published biannually at http//www.ibo.org/facts/statbulletin/dpstats/index.cfm.
"A" level and IB are internationally benchmarked qualifications for University admission. All qualifications are assessed equally rigorously during the admission process and no qualification is accorded any advantage or disadvantage.
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