UWC Council meeting in Canada
UWC Council meeting in Canada
Monday, 19 October 2009
The UWC Council meets once each year, together with a biannual meeting of UWC Heads. The venues of the meetings rotate through the campuses of the United World Colleges around the world, and this week, the Heads and the Council met at Pearson College on Victoria Island, near Vancouver.
There were several crucial items on the agenda, and significant progress was made on all of them. A new strategic plan for UWCs was approved, a new more uniform branding identity was adopted, a basic code of conduct for students in all Colleges was approved, a highly significant statement of the principles of a United World College education was developed by the Heads, and major progress was made on the issue of global needs-based scholarships. No doubt the International Office will announce details of all these decisions in due course. Coinciding with the meeting of the UWC Council, the teachers in charge of student welfare from each of the UWCs met together for input and discussion sessions.
Several of the issues being discussed had been somewhat contentious in the months leading up to the meeting. I think it was an excellent demonstration of the way in which conflicts can be managed in a positive and constructive manner that agreement was not only possible on these issues when the Council met, but it seemed to flow in a genuine spirit of goodwill and co-operation during the meetings.
One of the joys of the meeting was spending time on the campus of Pearson College, soaking in the mood of its beautiful surroundings and meeting its remarkable students. Pearson College is smaller than LPCUWC as it has only 200 students, but this number includes students from a staggering 103 countries. It was especially good to have dinner one evening with the four students from Hong Kong, each of whom I had helped to select as a member of their interview panel. To say that they were enjoying their time at Pearson would be an understatement, although they did suggest that the food at LPCUWC was better than Pearson’s canteen.
As mentioned earlier, the Heads meet twice each year, but the UWC Council meets only annually under the UWC’s new governance structure. When the Council next meets in October 2010 it will be at LPCUWC in Hong Kong, presenting us with the great joy of hosting the delegates. My planning has already started!
Whenever I visit other UWC campuses, I always try to take some photos. True to this tradition, I have uploaded a collection of 48 photos of Pearson College HERE to share with you. Please take the time to glimpse their beautiful campus.