Our Students

YCIS Shanghai students are known for their academic excellence, including stellar examination results and overall scholastic achievement. A rigorous academic programme, paired with a holistic approach to education, is one of the main reasons why YCIS Shanghai graduates continue to be accepted into top-ranked universities around the world.

YCIS is the only international school in China to have received the Cambridge Award for Excellence in Education, in recognition of our longstanding commitment to providing a world-class, global education.

At YCIS Shanghai, education continues beyond the classroom to include after-school sports and Co-Curricular activities.

Athletic events and team-building play a critical role in the development of globally competitive individuals who are prepared to meet and solve the challenges of the future.

YCIS Shanghai is an active member of the China International Schools Sports Association (CISSA), the Shanghai International Schools Athletic Conference (SISAC), and the Association of China and Mongolia International Schools (ACAMIS). Our students achieve individual and team sports awards in their leagues every year.

YCIS students have many opportunities to interact with and support not only the local community but also organisations worldwide. With one of the three parts of the school's motto being "Align with Love and Charity", YCIS students continually engage in charitable and service activities which help to develop their appreciation for contributing to society.

Starting in Primary, our students begin to create and run events and activities which raise funds for worthy causes. In Lower and Upper Secondary, students make an impact on the community through our Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) programme, helping them not only develop essential soft skills, but also value the importance of volunteer work.

YCIS Shanghai students achieve outstanding academic results year after year. In fact, they have earned more "Top in the World" and "Top in China" International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) awards over the past three years than any other school in mainland China. The results of our International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) students far exceed the worldwide average.

• 86% of students at YCIS Shanghai achieved the IB Bilingual Diploma.
• Four students achieved high scores of 41 points or more.
• 50% of graduates received offers from the top 30 US universities, as ranked by U.S. News.
• 40% of offers are from the top 10 British universities, according to the Times Higher Education 2023 ranking.

YCIS Shanghai students have continuously received offers from leading universities around the world in the last few years, including:

• Stanford University
• University of California, Berkeley
• The University of Chicago
• Johns Hopkins University
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of California, Los Angeles
• University of Oxford
• University of Cambridge
• Imperial College London
• University College London (UCL)
• London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
• Tsinghua University
• Peking University
• National University of Singapore
• The University of Tokyo
• University of Hong Kong
• University of Toronto
• University of British Columbia
• McGill University
• McMaster University
• University of Melbourne
• University of Sydney
• Berklee College of Music
• Parsons, The New School for Design
• École hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL)
• Royal Veterinary College

Despite the grading standards being more stringent than previous years and global scores generally decreasing, 1 YCIS Shanghai student achieved an outstanding 11 A*/A grades, five students achieved 10 A*/A or more, 10 students with 9 A*/A or more grades, and 16 students received 8 A*/A or more. This outstanding performance underscores our students' efforts and talents and fully showcases our school's successful cultivation of academic abilities.

100% of the students achieved full A*/A in Physics, 100% of the students achieved full A* /A in Foreign Language Mandarin Chinese, 94% of the students achieved A*–B in Chinese as a Second Language, 94% of the students achieved A*–B in Design & Technology, and 81% of the students achieved A*–B in Economics. Our students have once again performed exceedingly well in their subjects, which is a testament to the school’s well-rounded education.