International schools in Colombia

Are you looking for an international school in Colombia? Search for the best international schools in Colombia; you can find a list of selected schools at the bottom of this page. Use the search filters to select only girls' or boys' schools, prep schools, senior schools or sixth forms; or you can search for schools that offer a particular curriculum, such as the International Baccalaureate, the UK or US national curriculum or the International Primary Curriculum.

Colombia has a diverse and vibrant international education sector with schools clustered around the regional cities of Cartagena, Medellin and Barranquilla as well as the capital Bogota.

There are more than 50 international schools offering the curriculums of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland and the International Baccalaureate. The vast majority are coeducational and offer day schooling but several provide single-sex education or boarding. 

Colombia has 61 IB World Schools. A total of 58 schools are authorised to offer the IB Diploma and 13 follow three IB programmes. Some schools combine IB programmes with US or British exams. 

All children are required to attend school from age five to 15, with state education provided free of charge. After one year of pre-school, children go to primary school for five years and junior secondary school for four years.

Two years of optional senior secondary education, divided into academic and technical tracks, culminates in the school-leaving Baccalaureate, which entitles students to sit the national university entrance exam. Columbia has more than 130 universities.

The number of out-of-school children and teenagers fell dramatically after a historic peace deal was signed in 2016 to end five decades of armed conflict in the country. Net enrolment was 94 per cent at primary schools and 80 per cent for secondary education in 2019, while gross tertiary enrolment was 54 per cent, according to UNESCO.