IB Pathways

Reference

The words nobody explains

Admissions systems are full of untranslated local jargon. Here is what the terms on this site mean.

A

Adgangskvotient Denmark Your grade point average converted to the Danish 7-point scale.
It is the number you compete on in quota 1.
ATAR Australia The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, a percentile from 0 to 99.95.
Australian universities publish a table converting IB points to an ATAR equivalent.

C

CAO points Ireland Irish applications are scored out of 600.
Ireland publishes an explicit IB-to-CAO table, and awards 25 bonus points for Higher Level Mathematics at grade 4 or above.
CPR number Denmark Your Danish personal identification number.
Ten digits, the first six being your date of birth. You cannot open a bank account or get a health card without it.

D

DP Course Results IB What the IB issues when you take Diploma Programme subjects but are not awarded the full Diploma.
Formerly called an IB Certificate. It gives narrower access than a Diploma almost everywhere.

E

ECTS Europe European Credit Transfer System.
A full academic year is 60 ECTS, so a three-year bachelor's is 180 and a Danish professional bachelor's is often 210.
EHIC EU/EEA The European Health Insurance Card — the blue card.
It covers medically necessary state healthcare in other EU/EEA countries. It is not travel insurance and does not cover repatriation.
Eksamenshåndbogen Denmark The Danish Agency's handbook of international examinations.
It contains the authoritative rules for converting an IB Diploma, and every Danish institution is supposed to follow it.

G

GSK Denmark Gymnasial supplering — individual upper-secondary subjects taken at a VUC to reach a level you are missing.
Taught in Danish. It can meet a subject requirement but cannot raise your overall qualification level.
GSU list Norway The list that decides whether a foreign qualification gives generell studiekompetanse — general university admission certification — in Norway.

H

Hochschulzugangsberechtigung Germany Your right to enter German higher education.
An IB Diploma grants it, but only if your six subjects satisfy the KMK's specific combination rules.

I

ISEE Italy The Italian income indicator that sets your tuition.
Italian public universities means-test fees rather than charging by nationality, so a foreign family must obtain an ISEE parificato or be billed the top band.

K

Kollegium Denmark A Danish hall of residence.
Usually off-campus, usually self-catered, and usually oversubscribed in August.

N

Nostrification Central Europe Formal recognition of a foreign school-leaving certificate.
In Czechia an IB Diploma has been exempt from it since March 2025 — a Danish studentereksamen is not.
Numerus fixus Netherlands A capped Dutch programme with its own selection procedure and a hard 15 January deadline that does not reopen.

O

Optagelse.dk Denmark The single national portal for Danish higher education applications.
Uses MitID. Closes at 12:00 noon on 15 March.

P

Parcoursup France The French national admissions platform for EU applicants.
Non-EU applicants use Études en France instead.

Q

Quota 1 / Quota 2 Denmark Programmes with more applicants than places split their intake.
Quota 1 ranks on grade average alone; quota 2 weighs other things and has far fewer places. You are considered for both automatically.

S

Samordna opptak Norway Norway's central admissions service — for Norwegian-taught programmes only.
English-taught programmes apply direct to the institution.
Studieprøven Denmark The Danish language test for higher education.
It can substitute for Danish A at most universities, but it is not an upper-secondary subject and can never meet a subject grade requirement.
SU Denmark Statens Uddannelsesstøtte.
Denmark's state education grant: a monthly payment to students in Denmark and, under conditions, for a full degree abroad. Danish citizens can claim it; other EU/EEA citizens can if they gain equal status. DKK 7,426 a month (before tax, for a student in higher education living away from their parents) in 2026. If you cannot claim SU, look first at your own country's student finance: several EU/EEA systems fund a full degree in another country.

T

Todistusvalinta Finland Finland's certificate-based admission.
Your IB grades are scored directly against published per-field tables, with no entrance exam.

U

UCAS UK The UK's central application service.
One form, up to five choices, and two deadlines — mid-October for Oxbridge and medicine, mid-January for everything else.
UNEDasiss Spain The accreditation Spanish universities require from IB holders.
It converts your diploma into a Spanish admission mark and is the gateway to the whole system.