The United World Colleges (UWC) are a group of twelve international schools. Founded during the Cold War, the United World College Movement aimed at promoting understanding between the different nations through education and through interaction between young people from different countries, living and working together. The UWC select students from around the globe at a pre-university level, based on merit, regardless of their financial status and ethnic, religious or educational background. A UWC Scholarship is highly prestigious as it gives the students a chance to develop a global and tolerant mind combined with strong academic skills.The schools are known as some of the most high-status high schools in the world. UWC graduates are highly sought after by major universities and companies.

The international organisation of UWC is a British based foundation that comprises twelve colleges in Canada, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Norway, Singapore, Swaziland, the United States, Venezuela and the United Kingdom, and, as of August 2006, newly opened eleventh and twelfth Colleges in Costa Rica and Bosnia and Herzegovina; National Committees in more than 130 countries; a network of more than 36,000 graduates from more than 181 countries^[1], and an International Office in London. The United World Colleges usually accept students who are between 16 to 18 years old, with exception of the ones in Singapore and Swaziland. Each UWC typically comprises between 200 and 300 students from about 90 different countries.

HISTORY

The first UWC, the Atlantic College, located in a 12th Century Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales, United Kingdom was founded in 1962 with the initiative of Kurt Hahn, a renowned German educationalist. His vision was based on his post-war experience at the NATO, where discussion between former enemies fascinated him. He wanted to transmit a spirit of mutual understanding to young people to help them overcome prejudice antagonism through living and working together.

Hahn envisaged a college educating boys and girls of age 16 to 19, from different origins. The selection would be based on personal motivation and potential, regardless of any social, economic or cultural factors. A scholarship programme would facilitate recruitment of young people from different economic backgrounds. The project was realised in 1962 with the inauguration of the Atlantic College in Wales.

Since 1967, under the presidency of Lord Mountbatten, new Colleges were founded in order to give more people access to the UWC system. In 1971 the United World College of South East Asia was established in Singapore, followed by the UWC of the Pacific in Canada in 1974. Under the presidency of Prince Charles, four more UWC were inaugurated: 1981 in Swaziland, 1982 in Italy and in the United States and 1988 in Venezuela. The rhythm accelerated with the foundation of three Colleges within five years: 1992 in Hong Kong, 1995 in Norway and 1997 in India, this rising the number of Colleges to ten. The eleventh and the twelfth College in Costa Rica and Bosnia & Herzegovina were opened in 2006.

The threat of an international conflict decreased with the end of the Cold War, but regional and inter-ethnic conflicts have since then increased. The UWC have been attempting to establish links between individuals of different ideologies and perspectives. Their mission is to answer Lester B. Pearson's interrogation: "How can there be peace without people understanding each other; and how can this be if they don't know each other?"

Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan has been President of the United World Colleges since 1995. Former South African President Nelson Mandela has been the honorary president of the UWC since 1999.

Academic

All of the United World Colleges offer two years of pre-university education (with the exception of the Simón Bolívar United World College of Agriculture in Venezuela which offers an agricultural diploma). After these two years, all UWC students are holders of the International Baccalaureate Diploma, a prestigious high school diploma recognized worldwide. The International Baccalaureate Organization has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and three administrative offices in New York City, Buenos Aires and Singapore. The Examinations Office is in the [[Cardiff[[,United Kingdom, in part due to the influence of nearby Atlantic College in its early development. The three working languages of the International Baccalaureate are English, French and Spanish. Ten of the twelve UWC use English as the main language of teaching and communication. Pearson College in Canada teaches certain subjects in French and Spanish while the UWC of the Adriatic in Italy and the Red Cross Nordic UWC in Norway require that all students study Italian and Norwegian respectively in order to facilitate their relationship with the local populations. The teaching in the Simón Bolívar United World College of Agriculture in Venezuela is in Spanish, with English language classes. That college is for slightly older students and offers a diploma in agricultural administration. United World College of Costa Rica is the first College which offers a bilingual IB Diploma in Spanish or English language. Previous knowledge of the language is not necessarily needed.

Students at the college are eligible, after graduation, to participate in the Shelby Davis Scholarship programme, which funds undergraduate study (based on need) for UWC students at 76 universities, such as Harvard University, Princeton University, Macalester College, Wellesley College, and Middlebury College, in the United States.

 Activities

The CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) programme - one of the requirements of the IB Diploma - is an integral part of UWC system. At most UWCs, CAS is merely a part of routine college life. It is because of this fact that UWC students significantly exceed the amount CAS hours required by the IBO to obtain an IB Diploma. In fact, CAS and indeed the IB programme itself have their roots in United World College of the Atlantic: During the creation of IB programme, the daily academic and social lives of students at Atlantic College were taken as examples. UWCs take pride in the fact that they are not involved with the CAS programme because it's a requirement of the IB. On the contrary, the IB requires CAS because CAS was an integral part of life at United World Colleges.

Among those activities particular to UWCs are the Coral Monitoring Service at Li Po Chun United World College and the partnership between the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and Atlantic College. At Mahindra United World College of India students tutor local 4th to 7th graders in English and Math, helping to prepare them for the Akshara Program, an NGO that provides supplementary education to rural secondary students and runs out of the college. At the United World College in Mostar the CAS Program contributes to the divided post-conflict Mostar society.

Another activity that has been founded has been a pioneering conference between Iraqi and American teenagers, planned for the summer of 2008, is called The Youth Initiative for Progress in Iraq^[2]. The conference, run by students from Li Po Chun United World College is sponsored by the United World College Movement and Princeton University. It aims to teach a select group of teenagers from the two countries conflict management skills, and initiate development projects in Iraq.