United World Colleges

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The United World Colleges (UWC) are an educational movement that currently includes 18 international schools, where students from over 120 countries study co-educationally and live together for two years. They finish their school education with an internationally recognized qualification.

aims

The school concept of the United World Colleges designed by Kurt Hahn aims to educate young people to be more tolerant and responsible through international education, community experiences and social engagement . The schools are under the motto "UWC makes education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future" - in German "UWC makes education a force around people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future unite ".

Between 1962 and 2019, 18 United World Colleges were established in Wales ( UWC AC ), Singapore ( UWC SEA ), Canada ( Pearson College ), Swaziland ( Waterford Kamhlaba ), Italy ( UWC AD ), USA ( UWC-USA ), Hong Kong ( Li Po Chun ), Norway ( UWC RCN ), India ( MUWCI ), Costa Rica ( UWC CR ), Bosnia and Herzegovina ( UWC Mostar ), the Netherlands ( UWC Maastricht ), Armenia ( UWC Dilijan ), Germany ( UWC RBC ), China ( UWC CSC ), Thailand ( UWC Thailand ), Japan ( UWC ISAK ) and Tanzania ( International School Moshi ) or accepted into the group of UWCs. Each school has between 155 and 5300 students who begin their training at the UWC between the ages of 15 and 19 and finish two years later with the International Baccalaureate Diploma (which is recognized as equivalent to the Abitur in Germany under certain conditions ) . The selection of students for the United World Colleges is made by national UWC committees in their respective home countries. Although selection procedures differ from country to country, all United World Colleges aim to select students based on academic achievement, social commitment, personality and maturity, regardless of financial means. If necessary, partial or full scholarships are awarded. In Germany, the German UWC Foundation is responsible for the selection of students.

history

The idea goes back to the German educator Kurt Hahn . Hahn, who had previously been involved in the founding of the German boarding schools Schloss Salem , Birklehof and the Louisenlund Foundation , was invited to speak at the NATO Defense College in 1956 . There he experienced the cooperation and friendship of people from countries that had recently been enemies in World War II . Hahn had the idea to bring young people together in a similar way, for example to overcome the hostility of the Cold War . With colleagues - many of whom came from the military - Hahn developed the idea of ​​the United World Colleges. Funded by generous donations (u. A. Of the French merchant Antonin Besse ) and inspired by Hahn's ideas succeeded in 1960 a group led by Admiral Desmond Hoare and Marshal Sir Lawrance Darvall , the St. Donat's Castle , a castle in Wales to acquire, and there 1962 Atlantic College to open and operate according to Hahn's concepts. In 1971, with the help of Lord Louis Mountbatten (President of UWC from 1967 to 1978), the newly opened international school in Singapore was subject to the same school concept, in 1974 the "Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific" was founded in Canada - in memory of Canadian Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lester Pearson , who had dreamed of a similar school in Canada since attending Atlantic College. In the next 30 years, 11 more United World Colleges opened.

Hahn also planned a school for Germany; it failed because of the finances and the federal-state competence dispute. At first, Hahn could count on the support of the bankers Hermann Josef Abs and Eric M. Warburg as well as the then State Secretary in the Federal President's Office , Hans-Heinrich Herwarth von Bittenfeld . In 1961 the three sought out Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and were able to convince him to give funds from the federal budget. The grants rose year after year to 400,000 German marks. In addition, annual donations averaged 100,000 marks. In 1986 the Federal Ministry of Finance refused to continue financing the project due to the cultural sovereignty of the federal states . A second difficulty was the recognition of the qualification after twelve years; For years, German students at a United World College could not be sure that the Conference of Ministers of Education would recognize their degree as a high school diploma. The third difficulty was finding a state and a location; they finally decided on Edenkoben and were able to convince the Ministry of Culture in Rhineland-Palatinate , but the project ultimately failed.

In August 2014, however, the UWC Robert Bosch College in Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, opened the first German United World College in Germany. It is located on the grounds of the Freiburg Charterhouse , a former monastery of the Carthusian Order.

School concept

classes

The lessons follow the guidelines of the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB). These stipulate that six subjects from five different subject areas (mathematics, literature, foreign language, natural science, social science) must be taken. Three of these subjects are taken at a more intensive level (“Higher Level”), the remaining three at a less intensive level (“Standard Level”). In addition, the students take a course in “ Theory of Knowledge ”, a kind of introduction to philosophy with a focus on the philosophy of science, and write a specialist paper, a so-called “Extended Essay”. In Germany, the IB degree is recognized as equivalent to the Abitur under certain conditions of the Standing Conference . The conversion of the number of points achieved in the IB to a German Abitur grade is based on a formula established by the Conference of Ministers of Education in 1979. At the now closed Simón Bolívar UWC of Agriculture in Venezuela (only students from Latin America were accepted at this school, an application e.g. from Germany is not possible), an agriculture-oriented degree was offered instead of the IB.

Extracurricular activities

Extracurricular activities play a just as important role in the United World Colleges as teaching. Proof of at least 200 hours of activities from at least three areas (creativity, sport and community service) is a mandatory condition for receiving an IB diploma. The offer differs from school to school, but is very broad everywhere. For example, a coastal rescue service is operated at Atlantic College in Wales , classical Indian dance is taught at Mahindra United World College in India and at Waterford Kamhlaba in eSwatini , students offer a course in textile printing for unemployed women, build houses for the homeless or provide AIDS education in schools in the environment.

Cultural exchange

In everyday life at UWC, students come into contact with classmates from around 80 to 90 countries. In addition, the colleges regularly hold evenings that focus on a continent or region and introduce students from that area through food, music, and plays. The host country usually has a strong cultural influence on the colleges - at Mahindra United World College in India, for example, Hindu holidays are celebrated and the national language Hindi can be chosen as a subject, at UWC Red Cross Nordic in Norway around a third of the student body comes from Nordic and Nordic countries Scandinavian countries.

organization

organization structure

In more than 150 countries there are national UWC committees or contact points which, among other things, look after the selection of students and the financing of scholarships and in which many UWC graduates are active on a voluntary basis. The individual schools are largely independent and are mostly run by supervisory bodies. At the international level, the International Office of the UWC movement in London coordinates the work of schools and national committees. The President of the UWC movement is Queen Nūr of Jordan , and Honorary President was Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nelson Mandela .

canditature

The national committees select students for the schools. In Germany, students can apply through the German UWC Foundation who, regardless of their type of school, are in at least the tenth grade and are not yet 18 years old when they start college. A written preselection via an online application portal is followed by the main selection in the form of a selection weekend with group tasks and individual interviews.

There are also national committees in Austria and Switzerland.

Colleges

There are currently (2019) 18 UWC schools:

The Simón Bolívar United World College of Agriculture in Venezuela , founded in 1987, was closed in 2012 by the Venezuelan government. The school there is now a state technical university.

Short Courses / Short Programs

UWC Short Courses (or Short Programs) are summer vacation programs, which usually have a duration of 1–3 weeks. You are part of the UWC movement and share the same goals and ideals. During this time, the aim is to deal intensively with a topic in a multi-cultural group of around 40-100 students and to work out facts through lectures, assignments and excursions. Political, ethnic, environmental or economic issues are discussed. Often the courses take place in socially disadvantaged areas and deal with regional problems so that the participants gain first-hand experience. The seminars offered are not necessarily offered every year, and the topics and / or locations can change.

Places and topics

place theme
Armenia "Social and environmental development in Armenia"
Austria "Acting for Peace"
Canada, Pearson "Pearson Seminar in Youth Leadership"
Costa Rica "Geared up: University Counseling & Culture in Costa Rica" / "Leaders for Change: How to be an entrepreneur before you're 20"
China, Hong Kong "Sino-Japan Youth Conference"
India "Youth, Environment and Sustainability" / "Religion in India" / "Encounter India"
Israel "Arava Valley of Peace summer course"
Mexico "¡Integrando a México!"
Mostar "Peace by Piece"
Shetland Islands "Youth for Community"
Spain "Action x Change"
Netherlands "UWC Summer Xperience"
Turkey "Living Together at the Crossroads: Building Bridges between Europe and the Middle East"
United States "Global Leadership Forum" / "United World of Soccer Camp" / "Summer Wilderness Trips"
Online UWC "Sustainability Challenges"

Attendees

Each Short Course is organized a little differently, but essentially the organizers of the Short Course forward places on offer to the respective selection committees of the countries which the participants select. In Germany these are selected by the German Foundation UWC. Here, the places for the short courses are mostly offered to applicants who were barely able to find a place at a UWC. Short course program graduates are considered UWC alumni and become part of the global UWC community.

financing

The costs vary from course to course, but there is basically the possibility of benefiting from the funds of the German UWC Foundation if you cannot bear the costs alone.

Alumni

politics

  • Willem-Alexander , King of the Netherlands
  • Ian Khama , President of Botswana
  • Douglas Alexander , Member of the House of Commons and Shadow Secretary of State, Secretary of State for International Development in Gordon Brown's Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 
  • Lene Espersen , Foreign Minister of Denmark from 2010 to 2011
  • Eluned Morgan , Welsh politician, Member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 2009 and Member of the House of Lords since 2011
  • Jakob von Weizsäcker , German economist and politician, member of the European Parliament since 2014
  • Julie Payette , former astronaut and Governor General of Canada

Other

Literature and magazine articles

  • Volker Gieritz: Overcoming boundaries . The United World Colleges (UWC) make young people of all nations fit for peaceful globalization - German students are also involved. In: FOKUS Schule . No. 5 . Focus Magazin Verlag, 2009, ISSN  1860-1391 ( focus.de [accessed on June 10, 2010]).
  • Christine Burtscheidt: The war in the mind . "Making peace through education": The United World College in Mostar brings young people from all over the world together - and makes international understanding a major subject. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . December 21, 2009 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed June 10, 2010]).
  • Lukas F. Streiff: Benefit auction - expensive pictures for special education. In: SPIEGEL-ONLINE - school mirror. September 17, 2006, accessed June 10, 2010 .

Web links

Commons : United World Colleges  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 200 invalid request. Retrieved May 11, 2018 .
  2. ^ David Sutcliffe: The First Twenty Years of the United World Colleges . In: Roy Denning (Ed.): The Story of St. Donat's Castle and Atlantic College . with a foreword by HRH the Prince of Wales. D. Brown in conjunction with Stewart Williams, Cambridge 1983, ISBN 0-905928-26-1 , pp. 85-118 (English).
  3. ↑ http://www.uwc.org/history
  4. ↑ Hans von Herwarth: From Adenauer to Brandt. Memories. , Propylaen, Berlin / Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-549-07403-4 , here p. 246 ff.
  5. ↑ Online application portal · UWC Germany . In: UWC Germany . ( uwc.de [accessed on May 11, 2018]).
  6. ↑ Colleges. German UWC Foundation, accessed April 24, 2019 .
  7. ↑ UWC Dilijan ( Memento of the original from November 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.uwc.org
  8. ^ Freiburg: The first 100 college students study in Kartaus. Retrieved October 19, 2015 .
  9. ^ UWC Changshu China Profile. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved October 19, 2015 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.uwc.org  
  10. ↑ Colleges. German UWC Foundation, accessed on April 24, 2019 (the Tanzanian school can be found under “UWC East Africa”).
  11. ↑ Declaration on the closure of the UWC in Venezuela ( Memento of July 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English)