UWC Colleges - celebrating diversity of colleges

The idea of creating the College was conceived by social entrepreneurs Ruben Vardanyan and Veronika Zonabend back in 2006. Their initiative was then joined by nearly 300 donors from across the world. In October 2014, UWC Dilijan officially opened its doors to 94 pioneer students, becoming the 14th UWC college.
Since then, UWC Dilijan has been pursuing the goal to bring world-leading education practices and values of the UWC Movement and youngsters from all over the world to Armenia.
A portion of the school is on the premises of Dilijan National Park

UWC-USA was originally founded as the Armand Hammer United World College of the American West by Armand Hammer at the request of Prince Charles, then the President of UWC. Hammer chose the Montezuma, New Mexico location in the American Southwest, because of its remarkable beauty, proximity to immense wilderness areas in Northern New Mexico, and an architecturally compelling site within a historic region of the United States.

Pearson College UWC was created to honour the legacy of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lester B. Pearson, a former prime minister of Canada, whose vision of peace and global cooperation inspired the founders of the school. Pearson College UWC was created to honour the legacy of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lester B. Pearson, a former prime minister of Canada, whose vision of peace and global cooperation inspired the founders of the school. Pearson College UWC was created to honour the legacy of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lester B. Pearson, a former prime minister of Canada, whose vision of peace and global cooperation inspired the founders of the school

UWC Costa Rica used to be the SOS Hermann Gmeiner International College (HGIC), built for students from SOS Children's Villages across the region. In 2006, HGIC became UWC Costa Rica, committed to continuing its mission of supporting children from SOS Villages in Latin America alongside students from around the world.

UWC’s founding college, UWC Atlantic College was designed to promote international understanding through education since its foundation in 1962. It provides a platform for young individuals to learn through shared experience and be empowered to make a positive difference.
Students are given authentic responsibility to make their own decisions and actions, following in the spirit of the educational revolution our founder Kurt Hahn started over 50 years ago, safe in an environment of reassuring presence of adults.

UWC Red Cross Nordic College has three pillars: Nordic, Humanitarian and Environmental. All Nordic countries contribute to the funding of the College. The College is a Foundation, with the Red Cross in Norway and Sogn & Fjordane amongst the founders. As part of their Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) program students take a Red Cross diploma. 
One of the Unique Feature is Survivors of Conflict Program - The program, run together with the Norwegian Red Cross and Haugland Rehabilitation Centre, enables young people with disabilities coming from conflict zones to attend UWC RCN. 

UWC Maastricht is a completely integrated, multicultural school for students of different educational and socio-economic backgrounds which operates within the Dutch public educational system and is subsidized by the Dutch government. 
UWC Maastricht is the only UWC school operating within a national public school funding context, educating students from preschool to high school. Youth Social Entrepreneurship initiative gives students the skills to identify problems in the community and design specific solutions in the form of social entrepreneurial projects.

UWC Robert Bosch College is a joint project of the Deutsche Stiftung UWC as well as the Robert Bosch Stiftung. Located in Freiburg, Germany‘s “green city“, the College has a special focus on sustainability, which is embedded in academics, student life and the architecture of the buildings. The proximity to the Black Forest National Park further allows for a well-rounded outdoor program. Deliberate diversity is the College’s main goal. 

The area north of Trieste experienced great bloodshed at the time of World War I and the Second World War brought further political and ethnic divisions to this part of Europe - a meeting place of Germanic, Latin and Slav cultures. By entering this arena of ethnic and historical complexity, UWC Adriatic has embraced an educational role of highly-charged political meaning and stepped into a world of extraordinary cultural diversity. For these very reasons the regional government of Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs backed the project from the outset and remain the College’s main stakeholders.
Music plays a major role at UWC Adriatic

Being based in Mostar, a city which has become emblematic of the bitterness and divisions of the war in today’s Bosnia and Herzegovina and surrounding countries in the 1990’s, UWC Mostar is the only UWC college built into a post-conflict country with the aim to “equip the next generations of young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the knowledge, skills, leadership qualities and international values, necessary to bridge the still existing ethnic divisions and move their country into the 21st century.”

Waterford Kamhlaba UWC of Southern Africa was founded in 1963 as a response to the separate and unequal educational systems in South Africa. The property on which the School is situated was originally a farm called "Waterford Park Estate". When His Majesty King Sobhuza II, the former Ngwenyama of Swaziland, visited the school in 1967, he gave it the name "Kamhlaba", by which he meant both "of the world", a world in miniature, and also that we are "of the earth" and therefore without distinctions such as race or religion. Differently to all the other UWC schools and colleges, the academic year at Waterford Kamhlaba runs from January to November.

All began in 1997 with the generous gift of land and building infrastructure by Harish Mahindra of the world-renowned Mahindra & Mahindra Group. UWC Mahindra is a vibrant college with a rich tradition of curricular innovation and community engagement. Programs such as the IB’s World Studies Extended Essay and the Film Studies program were conceived and piloted here. UWC Mahindra is known as a place of curricular innovation, and several programs conceived here have been incorporated into the global International Baccalaureate curriculum. It offers an exciting opportunity for real-world and project-based learning through the Project Based Diploma Program. 

UWC Thailand was founded in 2008 as Phuket International Academy and joined the UWC movement in August 2016. It is a day school with boarding facilities and offers a holistic educational program with a special focus on mindfulness. UWC Thailand integrates Social Emotional Learning and Mindfulness into its curriculum, providing each of its community members support in developing key life skills, including self-awareness and management, social awareness and effectiveness, and approaching work in an ethical and effective manner.

Opened in 1971 as Singapore International School by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, UWC South East Asia became a full member of the UWC movement in 1975. The College’s scale allows students to participate in an enormous breadth of opportunities as part of a holistic UWC education, extending the academic program to include activities, service, outdoor education and personal and social education.

UWC LPC opened its doors for the first generation of students in September 1992, and was formally opened by HRH the Prince of Wales on 6 November 1992. It was the second UWC college in Asia. Through its Quan Cai (‘whole person development’) program, students are given the responsibility to initiate and run projects and participate in local community service.

UWC Changshu China was founded in 2015 as the first UWC in the mainland of China on the initiative of a UWC alum, Mark Jiapeng Wang. Many of the Zhi Xing activities have student leaders, who use their knowledge and experience to help their classmates to excel in these activities, acting as positive role models for their peers while also challenging themselves.

UWC ISAK Japan is the newest UWC college, admitting the first generation of UWC students in autumn 2017. UWC ISAK Japan founder, Ms Lin Kobayashi, discovered her passion for global education while attending Pearson College UWC in Canada. Through an innovative leadership program, which combines the practice of mindful self-discipline and design innovation, students discover what is most important to them as they work to become catalysts for positive change. Leadership practice is integrated into all aspects of life including academics, co-curricular, and the residential experience.