College experience:

Education for sustainable future

by Tamsyn JN Green

[email protected]

When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters; one represents danger and the other represents opportunity. Sri Lanka is no stranger to political tensions claimed to be fast approaching civil war in the international media.

However, Peace Researcher, John Galtung, used a model (shown below) to illustrate that conflict is a dynamic state that can implement positive changes in society. Causes, attitudes and behaviour constitute the three aspects of conflict that can be addressed by peace-building, peace-making and peace-keeping respectively.

In the wake of a world recovering the loss and suffering of the Second World War, German Educationalist Kurt Hahn founded the United World Colleges movement in 1962.

Hahn believed that bringing together young people from across the world could impact change in societies threatened by political, racial and religious hostilities.

Mission Statement: The United World Colleges (UWC) movement makes education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.

There are currently thirteen colleges across the world, which are part of this unique educational movement bringing together young people from more than eighty different countries to live, study and serve the community.

Voluntary national committees in each country select young people on the basis of personal merit to enrol in the UWC experience. Students study subjects from six categories for the International Baccalaureate Diploma, as well as studying theory of knowledge and completing an independent research essay in their chosen field.

Community service is an equally valued component of college life and all students commit to volunteering regularly. Services range from social work in the community to first aid and rescue services at sea! In addition to this, an intense activities programme requires that students participate in sports, arts and keep abreast of current affairs and global concerns.

Students in the Inshore Lifeboat Service train on the Bristol Channel, United World College of the Atlantic.

While the UWC share a common goal, each is characterized by its unique environment. The most recent UWC in Bosnia Herzegovina aims to confront the ethnic tensions still present in this part of former Yugoslavia.

Opened by Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, the president of the United World Colleges, in September 2006, it is the first school in the country to bring students from the three ethnic groups (Bosniac, Serb and Croat) to one classroom since the late 1980s, before the Balkan War shunned any hope of international tolerance.

Today, all other students in the region study a curriculum determined by their ethnicity. For example, one school teaches Croat students in the morning, before new staff arrives for teaching Bosniac students in the afternoon.

A former student of the United World College of the Atlantic in the UK, Beth Hillier, is currently volunteering at the UWC in Mostar (UWCiM). Reporting from Mostar, Beth Hillier says, 'Since the war, Mostar's Croats and Bosniacs have been living, almost exclusively, in separate neighbourhoods.

What is so unique about UWCiM is that it provides a neutral ground where young Bosnians of all ethnic groups, away from any pressures in their home communities, can live and learn together as the previous generations did before the war. From what I have seen in the past month, it has really worked.

In class, the cafeteria, and out in town the students socialise together with peers from other ethnic groups so comfortably that it is easy to forget that, though the war ended more than a decade ago, there are still very few young people who have the opportunity to do the same.

The UWCiM students share a common language and a collective history, but moreover, they share the desire to see their country overcome detrimental ethnic barriers and to see its people, all of its people, move forward together toward the future.'

The UWC movement is growing all the time, but the network is limited by funds and by accessibility. While there is only a tiny percentage of graduates world-wide, the foundations of the movement lie in a belief that young minds can be agents of change, a belief that can operate globally.

The colleges are fuelled by the dynamics of an international student body, but the long-term aim is that people will return to their home countries to confront issues most relevant to their own society.

Armed with an internationally recognized qualification, it is not surprising that many students pursue further education at top universities in the UK and the US. However, it is important to remember that a prestigious education can be most profoundly implemented in areas less able to provide such educational privileges.