The International Department of Beijing National Day School was established in June 2004. So far, it has five major programs: International Exchange Program, International Students Program, Cambridge (A level) Programme, Sino-American Dual Diploma (AP) Program and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP).
The full-time faculty for the international department has grown from originally 3 to 130. Among them, 79 are international teachers from the United States, Britain, and other countries. Our faculty members come from prestigious institutions such as the University of Tsinghua, Peking, Renmin, Harvard, Columbia, UC-Berkeley, Cambridge, St. Andrews to name a few.
BNDS has established an education system which response to students at different levels and interests. In order to personalize the learning experience, BNDS has implemented function-specific classrooms, an innovative self-study academy and a system of flexible adjustment of curricular content. The curricular developments have greatly enhanced students' comprehensive achievements. Currently, BNDS has four parallel curricula that are available for high school students: CNCC, CIE, AP, and IBDP.
The CNCC or Chinese National Certificate Curriculum offers a national based curriculum which is primarily taught in Chinese language and which fulfills graduation requirements for the Chinese High School Education Diploma. After passing a highly selective entrance exam, students from all over the municipality of Beijing are enrolled in this program. This program also offers the Gaokao Optional class which allows students to opt out of the Gaokao (college placement) examination. These students routinely choose to study in other countries after high school. CNCC course marks are shown on a 100 percent unweighted scale.