United World Colleges is a global non-profit, equal opportunities organisation that provides intercultural learning programmes for young people around the world. It is the pioneer and best practice leader in the field of global education.
Q&A
Top 10 questions to consider when applying to UWC
Are you ready:
- to live in a dorm with people who have different daily habits?
- to leave your family and friends for many months?
- to be motivated to study autonomously?
- to be intrigued by the totally different customs of other students?
- to get up early after a very late night?
- to organise your time yourself?
- to represent your own culture and country at the college?
- to push yourself to new limits?
- to pursue sustainable development rather than just talk about it?
- to keep up even when the going gets tough?
Top 10 things you could get out of 2 years at a UWC
- Living and studying with students from more than 70 different countries.
- Understanding other cultures by sharing your all with them.
- A more personalised, pro-active and analytical academic curriculum.
- Teamwork and contributing actively to local communities.
- Assuming responsibility for problems which others choose to ignore.
- Surpassing yourself with new activities and achievements you would not have dared to imagine.
- Learning a wide range of languages.
- Leadership, an independent mindset and a global citizenship perspective.
- An incredible, worldwide network of lasting friendships.
- A passion for planet earth and all its inhabitants, whether plant, animal or human.
I made a lot of friends from different countries with whom I've discussed a lot on very different subjects. That has really opened up my mind. I have learned to be more tolerant as well. To live with 5 people in one room is not always easy. We are all very different: not only by nationality and personality, but also by culture and habits. To be in class at 8 am we all get up the last minute and want to use the bathroom all at the same time.... You have to get used to a communal life and the inevitable conflicts that follow from that sometimes. It is a fantastic lesson on life.