Armağan Ateşkan, Jale Onur, Sila Sagun, Margaret Sands and M Sencer Çorlu—Bilkent University
There were two principal aims of this study: 1) to explore the alignment between the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (DP) and the Ministry of National Education Programme (MoNEP) in Turkey and 2) to investigate the effects of both programmes on the achievement of graduates at the university level. This multidimensional, mixed-methods study involved analysis of major policy papers and written high school curriculums, data from universities related to entry scores and academic performance, and analysis of student perceptions. The results suggested that generally the cognitive demand of the DP was higher than that of MoNEP, particularly for the Turkish and English subject areas. While DP graduates performed less well on the Turkish national university entrance exam compared to non-DP graduates, DP graduates generally had higher course grades in the five subject areas examined in this study as well as a significantly higher cumulative grade point average overall. The data also indicated a higher graduation rate among the DP cohort. DP students reported feeling well-prepared for university studies, particularly in the use of English and academic skills such as writing and managing independent work.