UWC the OnlyGlobal Educational NGO Brings Together Students from all Over the World

Given that the Middle East is one of the most divided and war-torn regions of the world, does it offer a good market for the UWC concept? End Quote

(1888PressRelease) October 18, 2013 - Education is something we can all agree on. UWC is the only global educational NGO that brings together students from all over the world with the explicit aim of fostering peace and international understanding.

I think we've got to work assiduously to create a future that we can share with one another, not one where everything is a zero sum game. UWC schools, colleges and programmes deliver a challenging and transformative educational experience to a diverse cross section of students, inspiring them to create a more peaceful and sustainable future. This simple model has had a profound impact by starting to become ubiquitious.

The UWC network, under the inspiring leadership of its first three presidents, the late Lord Mountbatten, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, HM Queen Noor and Honorary President Nelson Mandela, has today expanded to include 12 colleges around the world, located in Canada, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Norway, Singapore, Swaziland, the Netherlands, UK, USA and Bosnia Herzegovina. A new UWC college is scheduled to open in Germany in September 2014.

One of the greatest challenges of our movement is to nurture young leaders in different fields, who are able to recognize and act upon the new opportunities and realities of our fast changing world by building bridges across cultures and within communities. This challenge is clear to us from our vantage point in the Middle East as countriesaround us struggle to make the transition from a state of war or civil disorder to a state of peace and co-operation. HM Queen Noor has said quite pertinently that"peace is not achieved solely by the stroke of a pen on paper; it is rooted in sustained people-to-people contacts, that can generate the kind of understanding and trust which are prerequisites to lasting peace".

For obvious reasons, our region could benefit greatly from enhanced participation in the UWC education movement. I believe that the young people of our region can contribute a special perspective to our global educational movement and its goals to promote tolerance, conflict resolution and peace and they, in turn will contribute meaningfully to the quality of peace we are all striving for and influence the behavior of nations in a way that pulls people together.

• How did UWC come about?
The extraordinary journey of the UWC movement began in the United Kingdom, with the establishment in 1962 of Atlantic College, through the dedicated efforts and enlightened vision of its European founder Dr. Kurt Hahn and his experience, spirit and unwavering belief that the education of talented individuals, within a cross-cultural and multi-national context would promote respect for pluralism, an enduring sense of community with colleagues from other countries, and an understanding of the shared destiny of our human family.

It was the former Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson, however, who first envisioned a global network of UWCs to extend the spirit and the message of the first college deeper into other cultures and regions of the world. The Pearson UWC College in the Pacific began that dream reflecting the late Prime Minister's and Canada's commitment to equal opportunity in education and comprehensive social services. The college is a fitting tribute to that great Canadian statesman, respected world leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. The late Mr. Pearson is remembered with admiration in the Middle East and throughout the world, as the ingenious initiator of United Nations peace-keeping forces during the 1956 Suez crisis.

Today, our twelve schools and colleges span five continents. Embracing the many nationalities present in each is an important feature of UWC life and it helps students to explore and develop an international appreciation.

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