UWC is more relevant than ever
The UWC programme aims to make the world a better place. UWC believes that the values it promotes are crucial to achieve peace and a sustainable future for all mankind, notably:
- International and intercultural understanding
- Celebration of difference
- Personal responsibility and integrity
- Mutual responsibility and respect
- Compassion and service
- Respect for the environment
- A sense of idealism
- Personal challenge
- Action and personal example.
UWC's mission is attuned to the needs of our complex, changing world. This is reflected in its priorities, such as the pursuit of integration of students with the local communities at their respective colleges, partnerships with development platforms and the objective to promote peace in conflict areas. A few examples:
UWC runs a successful inter-ethnic college in Mostar, in the former conflict region of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
UWC has worked with the SOS Children's Villages to integrate one of its former schools, in Costa Rica, into the UWC network.
A new UWC college to be opened in Maastricht in 2009 will be fully integrated with local schools and the University of Maastricht and will host an interregional centre of excellence for social services.
During my two years at Mahindra (UWC India), I participated in the construction of a school building in the village of Rawade, Maharashtra, and administrated first aid to local children during a relief aid mission in the aftermath of the January 26, 2001 Bhuj earthquake in the state of Gujarat. While at Mahindra, I also developed a passion for the applied sciences, and I have ever since aspired to employ my technical skills for the environment and the quality of life of those in need. My two years at Mahindra thus imbued a sense of social responsibility in me that has guided many of the choices I made in defining the direction of my further studies in engineering.