By Khalifa Hemed
Published July 13, 2019
A school that educates youth to ensure they are globally-minded, ethical, and acquire compassionate leadership skills is set to open in East Africa on August 1, 2019.
International School Moshi, which was originally set up in 1969, shall be the host of UWC East Africa when it receives 80 students into the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) programme across its two campuses in Arusha and Moshi.
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UWC East Africa, that shall be the second UWC school in Africa after the first in Mbabane in Eswatini and the 18th in the UWC movement, is the initiative of United World Colleges that styles itself as a global movement that uses education as a tool to unite people for peace.
Becoming a UWC school shall involve a substantial change in the composition of the student body, with a more diverse range of international students attending the school, over 50% of whom will attend on scholarships.
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“Our rapidly changing world needs a new kind of leadership that is globally-minded, compassionate and courageous and that thrives on diversity. We are thrilled to bring UWC’s unique experiential education to Tanzania and to offer scholarships for students from East Africa and across the globe to access our IB Diploma Programme irrespective of their ability to pay,” says Jens Waltermann, Executive Director of UWC International.
On top of the IB Programme, Waltermann says, students at UWC East Africa will take part in a dedicated Outdoor Pursuits Programme which includes challenging mountaineering expeditions to Mount Hanang, Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro, as well as other off-road expeditions. The programme is designed to give UWC East Africa’s students exposure to unfamiliar challenges which enable them to develop new teamwork and leadership skills.
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Students will also be engaged in a wide spectrum of creative, physical, social and community activities through UWC’s Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) projects, which will range from peer education programmes in the local community to a bee farming project in West Kilimanjaro. Social justice and community service both lie at the heart of the UWC movement.
“We’re very excited about adding to our already diverse community and broadening our reach in East Africa and beyond,” says Anna Marsden, Director of UWC East Africa. “Tanzania’s natural resources and mountainous landscape will give UWC East Africa’s students something they can’t get elsewhere, with plenty of opportunities to experience the mountains and the Indian Ocean coastline.”
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“Throughout their time at UWC East Africa, the students will acquire the competencies needed to become leaders in their communities and bridge builders in a world that will only solve its problems through cooperation,” Waltermann adds.
Founded in 1962 and reported to have ‘more than 60,000 graduates from 160 countries’, UWC requires potential students, who are aged between 16 and 19, to apply to UWC through their national committees or the Global Selection Programme. UWC says applicants are selected on the basis of their potential. Admission to UWC schools, the organisation says, is ‘independent of socio-economic means, with over 80% of national committee-selected UWC students receiving full or partial scholarship’.
