Evaluation visit at UWC USA
Evaluation visit at UWC USA
Sunday, 25 October 2009
I have spent much of the past week on the campus of our sister college in the United States as a member of a team conducting a quality-control audit visit. The team comprised two members of the International Board plus three Heads of other UWCs - myself plus the Heads of Pearson College in Canada and Waterford Kamhlaba College in Swaziland.
The background to this visit is that each United World College undertakes a detailed process of self-evaluation about once every decade, and the results of the self-evaluation are then appraised by a visiting team. Li Po Chun United World College was the first UWC to undertake a self-review (back in 1999 I think), and UWC USA was the final College to undertake a review in this first round. As LPCUWC is scheduled to be the next UWC to undertake a self-review (the first College in the second round of evaluations), it was important that I accept the invitation to be a member of this evaluation visit.
Staff of the College had spent much of the last academic year in teams conducting their self-review, not only for the UWC visit, but also for a local US-based accrediting agency, ISAS, which undertook their visit at the same time as the UWC team last week. It must have been quite a heavy load of self-evaluation for UWC USA, as they were also undertaking their 5-yearly self-review for the IB during the same period. I felt very sorry for their Head (there called the ‘President’), Lisa Darling, who like me had been attending the UWC Heads’ meeting and International Council meeting at Pearson College in the days immediately prior to the evaluation visit, and who had to persevere through the intensity of the dual visits with a heavy cold.
As always, it was a delight to meet the staff and students of another UWC. We were welcomed with the openness and warm hospitality that one expects as a characteristic of any UWC, and it was a genuine pleasure to share experiences over dinner in the canteen as well as in the more formal meetings. It was a privilege to be in the College’s beautiful campus and buildings for several days - it is mid-autumn in New Mexico, and the College’s high mountain desert environment provided us with clear blue skies that were spectacular above the brightly coloured yellow and red autumn leaves of the trees..... until our final day that is, when the weather turned very cold and it snowed quite heavily - this winter’s first snow fall.
It was easy to find many commendations to pass on for the encouragement of the faculty and students at UWC USA. Like all UWCs, UWC USA is a remarkable educational institution at the cutting edge of best educational practice. The danger for all of us who work in UWCs is that we might come to take for granted the extraordinary experiences that we share every day, and for me it was great to be reminded of how special all the UWCs are by seeing our shared mission and vision being expressed in an entirely different cultural and physical environment from my own College.
During my visit, I was able to get some photos of the campus to add to the very small collection of images I took during my previous visit for a UWC International Board meeting several years ago. I have added these to my gallery of images of UWC USA, which can be seen HERE.
Late afternoon on the verandah of Montezuma Castle, the focal building at UWC USA