The International Baccalaureate (IB) is excited to introduce the Youth Advisory Council—a carefully selected group of student leaders to shape the future of IB programmes and help their peers to flourish.
More than 1,400 students across 92 countries applied for a place on the Advisory Council, with twelve ultimately selected to make up the inaugural 2025-26 cohort. Representing all three IB regions, selected Advisory Council members demonstrated passion, leadership, and dedication to transforming education worldwide.
Having successfully navigated a rigorous selection process—including essays, testimonials, and videos reviewed by Senior Leadership at the organisation—the IB is proud to welcome these powerful and ambitious student voices.
The Youth Advisory Council will play a key role in shaping the education of 1.95 million IB students globally. They will work alongside IB leadership, including Director General Olli-Pekka Heinonen and the other IB Advisory Councils. Selected students will commence their journey with their first in-person gathering at the IB Global Conference in The Hague from October 22–25, 2025.
Youth Advisory Council members sit for a one year term, and work together with the overarching aims to:
- Support the on-going design, development and implementation of strengthened IB programmes in ways that respond to the needs of IB students globally and enable them to flourish.
- Deepen IB partnerships that support aspiring youth by connecting IB students with wider local and global education partners.
- Inspire innovation at the IB by reflecting the voice and capabilities of youth in education, thought leadership and the broader education landscape. The Youth Advisory Council will receive leadership training to build their skills in navigating complexity, systems thinking, constructive dialogue and other areas.
Join the organisation in celebrating these twelve trailblazers, and the beginning of a new era of student-driven impact at the IB. We look forward to the insights and intelligence that their student perspective will bring, to improve upon systems and frameworks serving the 160 countries where the IB is active.
 is excited to introduce the Youth Advisory Council—a carefully selected group of student leaders to shape the future of IB programmes and help their peers to flourish. ){kind=icon}