OUR APPROACH

“We believe in creating opportunity for those who want to have a genuine positive impact. In this day and age, I believe we need to educate global citizens who want to engage in discourse and who really want to make a difference. That’s our brand of international education and that is where the real strength of UWC lies.”

Jens Waltermann, Executive Director, UWC International

UWC is committed to providing a world-class education to 100 refugees per year on a continual basis. This is rooted in our mission to make education a force for peace – and in our model of empowering students from very diverse backgrounds to become changemakers for a better future.

UWC provides a welcoming space for young people from refugee communities. For many years, UWC has educated refugees from conflict hotspots such as Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, Western Sahara, Tibet and Colombia. Currently, about 90 young refugees are studying at our schools on a full scholarship joining a vibrant community of students from 150 different countries, and many more cultural backgrounds.

We strive to create a tight-knit, family community for all of our students, especially those from refugee backgrounds. UWC provides a “home away from home” environment, even for those who may be studying at great distances from their true homes.

UWC schools have the flexibility to receive students who have had their education and lives disrupted due to displacement. UWC schools aim to fully integrate all students independent of their backgrounds. We have observed that many young refugees come with specific psychological and welfare needs as they have often experienced various forms of trauma. Bespoke and ongoing pastoral care and academic support are very important elements of a UWC education and we continue to improve them on a regular basis. While we work to increase access to quality education for young refugees, UWC aims to empower each student so that they can become free to not be defined by their past. Refugee students receive a worldclass secondary education at UWC schools that empowers them to become changemakers for the benefit of the communities they live in. Access to secondary education is a critical step on the educational pathways towards higher education, professional and personal development. Our students acquire the skills and awareness they need to become catalysts of change and address the political, economic and social inequalities and the ethnic or religious tensions that their communities face. They develop an entrepreneurial mindset and can become leaders for their communities as managers and social entrepreneurs, engineers, economists, artists, scientists and educators. By doing so, they support and contribute to peace and stability and are the messengers of hope so urgently needed both by their peers today and for the rebuilding of their post-conflict societies in the future.