Participation in the Council of British International Schools’ (COBIS) annual conference on the 12 of May of 2024 offered me the opportunity to reflect on the immense privilege and opportunities that an international education offers. The theme for this year’s conference was “Louder Than Words”, a theme designed to enable participants to unpick the issues with the contemporary educational system as it responds to the threats of AI, climate change and cybersecurity in our rapidly transforming multinational context. Attended by headteachers, CEOs and founders of the world’s leading international schools, the conference was composed of workshops, training sessions and panel discussions centred around the changes that schools can make to improve the education they offer their students. My role was to speak on a student panel formed of current students or alumni of international schools to offer a student perspective on how the educational system might need to adapt in the near future.

Critically, it reminded me of the value that international schools offer in shaping students for the twenty-first century. The opportunity to engage and collaborate on a daily basis with other students from a range of cultures is unique to the international school experience and a key tool to help alumni positively approach internationally-minded career opportunities in the future. The IB’s insistence on the study of two languages encourages students at St.Julian’s to maintain an open mindset towards cross-border collaboration, a skill which I take to be hugely important in the modern day. The international backgrounds of St. Julian’s alumni are reflected in the hugely varied destinations that individuals choose to pursue higher education and ultimately to live afterwards. A St. Julian’s education ensures that in the years to come, one is bound to have friends scattered across Europe and even further afield. With this in mind, an international school education offers students the chance to expand their horizons, positively interact with individuals from a range of nationalities and develop the characteristics of a true global citizen.

Ross Harrison, Class of 2022