The Student Transfer Simulator helps families and students understand how a move between two education systems may change school-stage terminology, progression routes, examinations, qualifications, and the structure surrounding the student’s next educational steps.
International school move
Student transfer simulator
Preview the typical stage, route structure, examinations, and pathway differences a student may encounter when moving between systems.
What the Student Transfer Simulator Compares
The simulator compares information documented for the selected education systems, including typical school stages and the major checkpoints represented in their Education Passport routes. It is intended to make structural differences easier to understand before a family investigates the detailed transfer rules of the destination system.
A transfer may involve more than changing the name of a grade. The destination system may use different school stages, examinations, academic or vocational branches, graduation requirements, qualification routes, or higher education entry points.
What the Simulator Does Not Decide
The simulator does not make an official placement decision, transfer credits, validate transcripts, recognize qualifications, determine immigration eligibility, or guarantee admission to a school, programme, college, or university.
Those decisions belong to the relevant school, education authority, examination body, admissions institution, credential-recognition service, or other responsible organization.
Where the Information Comes From
The simulator uses structured information from Education Benchmark country guides and Education Passport routes. Country guides reference sources such as ministries of education, public education authorities, examination bodies, qualification agencies, universities, statistical organizations, and other official or institutional sources relevant to each system.
How to Read a Transfer Result
The result should be read as a map of the two systems rather than a prediction of an individual student’s final placement. A student may appear to move between broadly comparable secondary stages while still facing substantial differences in curriculum, subject selection, examination timing, graduation requirements, or later admission routes.
The most important differences are often the decision points: when students select subjects, when vocational and academic routes separate, which examinations affect progression, what qualification is awarded, and what that qualification normally leads to within the same national system.
Example Use
A student moving from one country during secondary education can use the simulator to identify the destination system’s typical stage and then review the Education Passport checkpoints ahead. This can reveal whether the destination system introduces a major examination, pathway choice, vocational branch, or qualification decision at approximately the same point in the student’s education.
Transfer Decisions That Require Official Verification
- Exact grade or year placement
- Recognition of completed coursework
- Transfer of credits or subject results
- Required transcripts and certified documents
- Language-support requirements
- Eligibility for examination or qualification routes
- Graduation requirements
- University or postsecondary admission consequences
Explore the Destination System in Detail
Use the country education guides for detailed information about school levels, compulsory education, examinations, grading, qualifications, and higher education pathways. The Education Passports provide a route-focused view of the major transition points within each system.
Related School Stage Tool
If the main question is simply which typical school stage corresponds to a student’s age, use the School Grade Converter.
Methodology
The simulator treats country education systems as structured pathways rather than interchangeable grade labels. It preserves differences in terminology, examinations, qualifications, governance, and route structure and avoids treating a typical match as an official placement or recognition decision. The site’s wider approach to definitions, comparisons, dates, and limitations is described on the About Education Benchmark page.