5 minute read
Magic?
- But how does one get the funding to build the college? By magic?
May 1st 2015. It has become a recent tradition to walk to the top of the Jarstadheia mountain on this day. It is the early nineties- politicians and organizers from all over the Nordic region stand on the piers at Haugland. Tey are on a guided tour, admiring the landscape with its fords, mountains, and forests. Magne Bjergene and Tom Gresvig are gesturing enthusiastically, vividly painting a picture of how a Nordic United World College might end up looking here, and where to situate the boarding houses, the school buildings, and the activity centre. Their motivation is clear: the Nordic Foundation Committee wants the governing powers to join their team. And they seem impressed as they look over the plot’s surface area and at the spectacular nature near the fjord.
– But how does one get the funding to build the college? By magic? Chief of Department Erik Ib Schmidt spreads his arms wide. There are plenty of good reasons for the Danish politician to be skeptical. They are standing deep into the fjords, in rural Norway, in a municipality and a county that is struggling to keep the population growing. Nonetheless, this is the place where they want students from all over the world to live while making ends meet - year after year? Sure. That is their endeavor, and this is the story about why these brave hearts chose to do it - and how it all came to be.
A decade prior to this meeting at the pier, the Organizer-in-Chief for RCN, Ivar Lund-Mathiesen, was teaching at UWC Atlantic College (AC). Back home in Norway, AC-alumnus and lawyer Tom Gresvig was deeply involved in UWC-work. At the same time, the church and education committee from the Norwegian Parliament were planning a field trip to London. Gresvig found out their itinerary and what days they were to be free from their obligations. On that date, he arranged for Lund-Mathiesen to invite the representatives of the Parliament to AC. One of these representatives was a member of the Christian Democratic Party, also known as the “radio doctor “, a school enthusiast called Hans Olav Tungesvik. Tungesvik was instantly interested in AC and the
UWC. Back home in Norway, Gresvig wrote a proposition for the changing of the private school laws. LundMathiesen and Gresvig were called in for a hearing, and in 1985 they effectively pulled through with the change. This would come to be one of the many steps leading to a Nordic UWC:
At the time, Norway’s private school laws made it practically impossible to establish a UWC there. But now the laws have opened up. In this new light, they could now conceive the founding of a boarding school here, says Lund-Mathiesen, 35 years later. There and then, no one knew that changing the private school laws would be among the minor challenges on the road to a Nordic UWC. Fortunately, Lund-Mathiesen was unaware of what he had signed up for when he took the job as Organizer -in-Chief. There were just so many odds against the establishment of the college. Did they really need magic to make it happen?
Long story short UWC Red Cross Nordic is an educational institution that offers an intensive two-year program at high-school level for 200 students from over 90 different countries. The students are all selected for a scholarship by a committee in their respective home countries, based on their competence and potential. Together, they are supposed to
Not much tarmac on the campus roads on the summer of 1995.
Haugland Campus.
The joy of arriving as a new student.
represent a deliberate diversity. The school is one of 18 UWC-Colleges worldwide. The UWC movement uses education as a uniting force to unite people, nations, and cultures for peace and sustainable development. The education at UWC Red Cross Nordic therefore focuses mainly on humanitarian work, environmental protection, and Nordic culture. A completed education leads to a diploma for the International Baccalaureate (IB), - the international student exam- that opens for studies at universities all over the world. Students live in the student residences at Haugland in Fjaler municipality. The school has its own sister company, UWC Connect, that offers accommodation for groups visiting campus, through the camp school, Red Cross summer camps and others. RKN is located beside and works together with the Red Cross Haugland Rehabilitation Centre. The school is a foundation, with the following founders: The Foundation Nordic United World College, The Norwegian Red Cross, Sogn and Fjordane County Municipality, Fjaler municipality, Sogn & Fjordane Red Cross and Eckbo’s Legater. The aim of the foundation is to promote peace, international understanding, sustainable development and ecological knowledge through education, research, courses, and other initiatives. As a foundation, the school’s top governing body is the Board. Members of the Board are chosen for a 3-year period by the school’s Council. The school was inaugurated in 1995 by HM Queen Sonja, who is the Royal Patron of the college.
UWC has a holistic view on education. Studying the various academic faculties for an IB, programs for “Creative, Active, Service” and the life at the boarding school are equally important in the combined development of the individual student. All students also work towards a diploma that promotes knowledge and skills related to the Red Cross.
The residences accommodate students in rooms of five. An overarching goal for the school’s activity is to bring together people across borders and divides. The diversity among the student body is perceived as a resource for learning and personal growth together.
The aim of this book is to present some of the scope in the school’s history. It will not be an exhaustive history book. The intricate history of the school is too vast and complex to be captured between two covers. A student belonging to the first generation was chosen to lead us through the story, making use of personal experiences to help illustrate what the school has become and offering a richer and wider perspective. It is still a relatively new institution that has been changing year after year, thanks to the new generations that join in.
For more formal information about the school, visit http:// uwcrcn.no//
