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 UWC college has been opened in Maastricht in 2009 and has been fully integrated with local schools and the University of Maastricht. It will host an interregional centre of excellence for social services.