← Back to the rankingInternational School of Debrecen
Debrecen, Hungary · est. 2019 · Private
Illustration · Debrecen
The International School of Debrecen (ISD) is a private, fee-paying international day school in Debrecen for children from age 3 to grade 12. It was founded by the Local Government of the City of Debrecen and opened in 2019 with 63 students; it is operated by the non-profit company DENOK, and the Board of Trustees gives input on the budget and tuition rules. ISD calls itself Hungary's first full IB continuum school: kindergarten and elementary follow the PYP, grades 6-10 the MYP and grades 11-12 the Diploma Programme. NEASC accreditation also lets the school award a US high school diploma. The language of instruction is English, as the school states directly. About 330 students from 40 nationalities attend, with 5 students per teacher and an average class of 14. The first class graduated in 2025.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $6 428–22 922 a year
5 690–20 290 EUR
Programmes
IB · PYP, MYP, DP · American programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
Hungarian, Spanish, German
Class size
an average of 14 students
Registration fee
≈ $246
80 000 HUF
About the fees Annual tuition for 2026-2027 in euro: Kindergarten 1-2 - 5690, Kindergarten 3 - 7000, grades 1-2 - 11290, grades 3-5 - 14990, grades 6-8 - 16150, grades 9-10 - 16790, grades 11-12 - 20290. Fees can be paid in euro or forints at the rate on the invoice date, in full in August, in two parts (August and January) or four (August, November, January, April). Discounts: for families already receiving the discount 15%, 25% and 35% for the second, third and fourth child; for new families 10%, 15% and 20%; from the fourth uninterrupted year - 10%.
Admissions Applications are accepted throughout the year subject to space; everything is done online: application form, health and social-emotional information, previous school records, then payment of the 80000 forint application fee. After the documents are reviewed an interview is held in person or online: about 30 minutes in Elementary School with the counselor, principal and admissions director, about two hours in grades 6-12. No English is required until grade 6; from grade 6 to 12 English is a key criterion, assessed with WIDA. The decision follows one week after the interview. Grades 6 and 7 are full and applications go to a wait-pool by the priority categories of the admissions policy. The school says it strives to meet the needs of all international and internationally minded families. The Municipality of Debrecen offers yearly scholarships at ISD for talented children aged 10-17 living in the city.
Stages and year groups Grades Kindergarten 1-3, 1-12. Kindergarten for ages 3-5 (Kindergarten 1-3) blends the IB PYP with the Reggio Emilia approach. Elementary School (to grade 5) follows the IB PYP with the grade 5 Exhibition. Middle School (grades 6-8) and grades 9-10 follow the IB MYP with the grade 10 Personal Project. Grades 11-12 follow the IB Diploma Programme: groups 1-6 with English A, Hungarian A, English B, Spanish ab initio, Business management, History, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics AA and Visual Arts. Through NEASC accreditation all graduates receive a US High School Diploma, and those who wish also take the IB Diploma.
Address Heltai Gáspár út 1., 4002 Debrecen
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP, MYP, DP · authorised programmeNEASC · accreditationThe IB register lists the Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma programmes at the school. It is accredited by NEASC and also awards an American high school diploma.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
IBInternational Baccalaureate
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: PYP (ages 3-12), MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams at the end. MYP is the middle stage, ages 11 to 16. There are no exams here either; at the end an optional electronic assessment of pupils' work is possible. 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 →NEASCNew England Association of Schools and Colleges
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 →American programme
The American school programme, with the High School Diploma at the end. It usually comes together with AP courses, which the College Board stands behind, and with an American accreditation - MSA, NEASC or Cognia.
What this means for this school. The diploma is written out by the school itself: the American programme has no common leaving exam, and the content of the senior years is set by the school. Outside checking therefore rests on two things here - the accreditation of the school, and the AP exams if the school runs them.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Average IB score
32 (world average 30.88)
Exam results First graduating class, IB Diploma 2025: every full candidate earned the diploma (100%), average score 32 out of 45, 33% of graduates scored 37 points or more.
Where leavers go: King's College London · Erasmus University Rotterdam · Brno University of Technology · Vatel Hotel and Tourism Business School · EU Business School Barcelona · University of Winchester · University of Groningen · Delft University of Technology · University of Warwick · University of Southampton · Eindhoven University of Technology · University of Twente and others, 14 universities in the school's list in all
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field
Clubs and activities: Drumming · Diamond painting · Guitar · Running club · Gymnastics · Football · Modern Dance · Jazz Dance & Ballet · Math Club · Student Council · 3D design and printing · Board games club · Model United Nations · TEDx ISD Youth
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
There are 5 students per teacher and an average class of 14. The school opened with four international teachers; Director Tom McLean worked for 17 years in international schools in Europe, Africa, South East Asia and the Middle East before ISD. There are IB programme coordinators, elementary and upper school counselors, a school psychologist and EAL teachers.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
✓Staff training
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has its own child protection policy that all employees must follow; all employees go through a police clearance and safeguarding training is given every year. The elementary and middle/high school counselors teach lessons on personal safety and children's rights; the school psychologist is available to all community members. There is also a Behaviour Management Policy.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)97 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 8 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
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