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About us
Our standards
Our standards
Setting a global standard
We are the world’s largest provider of international education for 3 to 19 year olds and part of the
University of Cambridge. We have over 160 years’ experience in delivering fair, valid and reliable
assessments that offer a global, recognised performance standard for international education.
With our globally trusted framework for education, including high-quality curriculum, assessment,
resources and support, we help over 10 000 schools in 160 countries offer a fully aligned education to
the highest standard. We work closely in partnership with schools, subject experts and the world-
leading teaching and research departments of the University, to ensure our offer reflects and
supports best practice in teaching and learning.
As a not-for-profit organisation, we devote our resources to helping every Cambridge learner develop
the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to thrive in a changing world.
An aligned system of education
We believe education works best when curriculum, teaching, learning, resources and assessment are
closely aligned. That belief inspires the design of each aspect of Cambridge programmes.
Alignment stems from knowing what we want students to learn, understanding how we will know
that learning has happened, and encouraging teaching and learning approaches that support it.
Five elements lie at the heart of a Cambridge education: international curriculum, teaching and
learning, assessment, international recognition and global community.
Find out more about the
benefits of a Cambridge education
Our assessment standards
When we talk about our assessment standards, we are referring to both our
assessment quality
standards
and the
awarding standards
of our qualifications.
Assessment quality standards refer to the validity, reliability and fairness of our assessments. They
also cover how we make sure that marking is accurate and reliable and that our assessment materials
are error free.
The awarding standard is the standard of candidate performance that is just sufficient for the award
of a given grade. Awarding standards are closely connected to the grade thresholds: every exam
series we use evidence to determine the position of the grade thresholds for each qualification so
that the level of skills, knowledge and understanding that candidates need to demonstrate to achieve
each grade is appropriate.
Regulation
We develop our qualifications according to our
Code of Practice (PDF, 351KB)
. The Code of
Practice sets out our approach to assessment and demonstrates our aim of transparency in how we
work with those who use our assessments.
Our quality management system
Cambridge International is committed to providing exceptional quality. Our quality management
system for the provision of international qualifications and education programmes for students aged
5 to 19 is independently certified as meeting the internationally recognised standard
ISO 9001:2015
.