Michael O’Sullivan is chief executive of the Cambridge (UK)-based Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) — formerly known as Cambridge International Examinations (estb.1858) — which has 10,000 schools in 160 countries including 436 primary-secondaries in India affiliated with it. The 160-year-old exams board bills itself as the world’s largest provider of international education programmes and qualifications for 5-19-year-olds, and offers several associated services including teacher training and curriculum development for affiliated schools. 

Newspeg. O’Sullivan was in India last November, his first visit after the rebranding exercise conducted earlier in September. Well-known for its IGCSE (class X) and A level (class XII) study programmes, CAIE is all set to introduce its Cambridge primary programme in India to enable students’ smooth transition into its secondary and higher secondary education. Moreover, its redesigned Cambridge Global Perspectives — an enquiry-based learning course (hitherto offered in upper primary classes) — will be introduced in all Cambridge-affiliated primary schools from the new academic year beginning June 2018.

History. A graduate in French and German of Oxford University’s Brasenose College, and linguistics postgrad of Wolfson College, Cambridge University, O’Sullivan is an accomplished linguist (fluent in Mandarin, French, German and Spanish) and a vastly experienced international educator. A former director of the British Council in China (2000-2007), secretary-general of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China (2007-08) and director of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust and Cambridge Overseas Trust (2008-2013), he was appointed chief executive of CAIE in 2013. 

Direct talk. “Cambridge International provides the world’s best syllabuses, curriculums and a range of associated services to primary, secondary and higher secondary schools in the UK and abroad. We are constantly researching how children learn and design our programmes to bring out the best in every child. Secondly, we offer huge flexibility to our affiliated schools. That’s why Cambridge International offers a wide choice of subjects — over 70 for the IGCSE and 55 for the AS and A levels. The third and perhaps more practical advantage compared to other exam boards is affordability,” says O’Sullivan. 

Currently, the Geneva-based International Baccalaureate (IB) with 140 schools countrywide is CAIE’s only international competitor in India. But, with three times as many affiliated schools than the IB, CAIE is far ahead of all competition.

Future plans. According to O’Sullivan, CAIE is all set to introduce a new digital media and design course for AS students in 2019 and A levellers in 2020. “While we can’t provide people with learning programmes for particular jobs, our objective at Cambridge International is to create lifelong learners with the intellectual agility and capability to analyse and change their perspectives to cope with uncertainty. The new digital age has impacted our syllabuses and curriculum design and also professional development programmes to enable teachers to integrate technology into their classrooms,” says O’Sullivan. 

Dipta Joshi (Mumbai)