UWC Short Courses
In addition to the 12 United World Colleges, UWC Short Courses have enabled more young people to benefit from the United World Colleges experience. These courses typically are held during summer and last 2 to 3 weeks.
United World College Short Courses foster international understanding and personal development by encouraging young people, selected on the basis of merit, to:
- Interact in a challenging and stimulating environment with others from a diverse mix of cultures.
- Take responsibility for their own actions both as individuals and as members of a community.
- Actively participate in community service and develop their understanding of chosen course themes.
Course workshops encompassing such diverse subjects as Conflict Resolution, Intercultural Integration, Marine Biology, Eco-tourism and Leadership have greatly influenced many of the students, helping them to develop a more global view of the issues relevant to our times. Much emphasis is also placed on ‘training to train', whereby participants learn to lead similar workshops when they return to their own communities.
In recent years, UWC Belgium has selected students to attend the Youth Leadership Summit, a short course in the Netherlands. For more info visit: www.uwc.nl/yls.
All graduates of UWC Short Courses are integral members of the UWC international movement and maintain a very active Short Course Graduate Network. Lifelong friendships have been formed and annual reunions have led to the continued growth and development of the Network and its activities.
I was very impressed by the positive energy and the motivation coming from all teenagers and the facilitators. Something else was positively astonishing in this group: feelings were not hidden, everybody was speaking honestly.
A specific activity impressed me as well: power circle. I’ll try to describe it the best I can… You sit in a circle of eight or ten persons; each one in turn tries to have an eye contact with everyone. Afterwards, you take the time to get concentrated on yourself, on your breath, your feelings and you “just” express what you are feeling. Or you can say nothing and plug in with yourself. During “your” time, everyone has to be careful and look at you. It’s a very intense activity, you can feel a lot of different feelings and a lot of energy circulating. This activity was very amazing for the majority and everybody agreed: it’s fairly impossible to describe, you have to taste it!