The Cambridge International Project Qualification (Cambridge IPQ) is a project-based qualification in which students develop various skills through research on a topic of their choice. This allows students to be deeply engaged with their selected subject beyond exam preparation and helps them stand out in university applications.

Target Student: The Cambridge IPQ is designed for learners aged 16 to 19 who wish to extend their learning beyond Cambridge International AS and A Level courses. Intensive study of the chosen topic significantly aids students in developing lifelong learning skills.

Content: This project-based qualification develops higher-order thinking skills, including analysis, evaluation, and synthesis. Additionally, it enhances research, reflection, and communication skills.

Project Requirements: Learners must complete a 5000-word research project on a topic of their choice, which could be a course subject or an area of personal interest. They need to formulate and develop a research question, conduct relevant research, document progress, and write a research report.

Assessment: The Cambridge IPQ is independently assessed and externally evaluated by Cambridge examiners. Students are graded from A* to E , with assessment standards aligned with those of Cambridge International A Levels.

The school offers the IPQ course to AS students over a period of 10 months to help them accumulate subject knowledge and develop topic interests. Students submit their intended topics and are matched with a subject teacher. Submitted topics cover humanities, economics, computer science, physics, chemistry, and biology, primarily based on students' interests and their application of A Level knowledge.

Throughout the IPQ cycle, professional educators and university researchers provide lectures to students on project introduction, topic selection, literature review, research methods, report writing, and analysis of successful cases. Each student's mentor also meets with them regularly to discuss project progress and guide the overall direction. Additionally, we organize proposal defenses, mid-term defenses, and final defenses as periodic assessment to provide feedback on students' research.

The results of completed projects have been satisfactory. Students’ research in the humanities areas used methods such as literature review, questionnaires, and interviews to explore and reflect on current events, economic issues, and social phenomena. In science and engineering, students employed literature review, theoretical derivation, experimental design, and numerical fitting to explain and analyze scientific phenomena and discuss engineering and manufacturing topics. Their research papers are highly academic and include their reflections throughout the process.

The IPQ project is the first time that many students complete independent research under the guidance of a mentor and produce a paper. This experience offers significant learning opportunities and has long-term benefits for their future academic and professional development.

GHCIS offers additional Academic Enrichment or Extension Programs (AEP) in the AS year to support students who wish to apply for highly competitive universities with selection processes such as written tests and interviews particularly on subject knowledge.

For Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, some students are to be selected into 'Extended groups' where the coursework is extended from the normal AS and A Level syllabus.

Extracurricular Enrichment Programs are offered in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Economics, Computer Science, and Humanities. These programs will cover topics beyond the A Level syllabus at teachers' discretion.

GHCIS actively seeks external resources to provide high-quality academic resources for students to cultivate students' comprehensive ability to solve practical problems, enable them to independently tackle challenges, assist them in delving deeper into their subject interests, and enhance their academic research background for university applications.

Currently, two extracurricular academic PBL (Project-Based Learning) courses have been introduced. One is led by Professor Fang Hongbin from the Fudan Institute of Intelligent Robots and his team, with topics related to robot design. The other is in collaboration with SubCat Academy, an academic institution in the Zhangjiang Biomedical Park, focusing on cutting-edge biology. Both courses consist of approximately 10 to 12 sessions, each lasting 1.5 to 2 hours.

Students can register based on their own interests and enter the course through respective selection process. The school is introducing more high-quality PBL projects in various areas.

In addition to these PBL courses, the school closely collaborates with renowned universities in Shanghai to provide students with a variety of academic resources, including rich academic lectures, micro-courses in various subjects (currently covering Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Economics, Chinese, etc.), and high-quality academic program options during weekends and summer vacations.