British International School, Phuket
Phuket, Thailand · est. 1996 · PrivateKey facts
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeCIS · accreditationNEASC · accreditationCambridge · IGCSE · authorised programmeArthit Ourairat Institution · school is part of the networkWhat stands behind each entry
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: DP (ages 16-19). DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →It accredits international schools and is a paying association at the same time. It examines governance and ownership, the curriculum, teaching, student wellbeing, staff and premises; a team of volunteers from other CIS accredited schools visits the school. Membership and accreditation are different things here, and schools confuse them more often than anything else.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →An American accreditation working since 1885. For international schools it uses an approach where the visitors look first at live lessons rather than at folders of paperwork: the team works in the school for about a week. It is the only one here whose public directory honestly separates accredited schools from candidates.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: IGCSE (ages 14-16). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →A Thai education group with its own site, arthitourairat.com, named after Dr Arthit Ourairat and describing itself as "a leading Thailand-based education group". No year of foundation for AOI itself is given on the site; only the prehistory is set out: Rangsit College opened in 1986, jointly by Dr Arthit and his father Prasit Ourairat, and in 1990 the college became a university. The site lists four schools - British International School Phuket, SBS International School Bangkok, SBS International School Chiangmai and SBS Rangsit - and at the same time reports that "a fourth school is under construction in Bangkok", so the number of schools disagrees within the site, and we give both statements. A separate page of the site is given to Satit International Bilingual School of Rangsit University Chiangmai (SIBS). On the current leadership it says that Dr Arthit's daughter has taken on the day-to-day management of the schools. The site says nothing formally about the tie to Rangsit University or about whether AOI owns the schools or manages them, and this cannot be told apart from it.
What this means for this school. The network owns or operates the school. Its accreditation and programme authorisation the school obtains separately, in its own name.