The UWC Council meetings
The UWC Council meetings
Sunday, 17 October 2010
I don’t really like being away from my College during term time. Twice each year, however, the demands of the meetings of UWC Heads draw me away for important discussions, usually to the campus of one of the other UWCs. For the October meeting each year, the Heads’ discussions are a prelude to the annual meeting of the UWC Council and the various committees of which all UWC Heads are members. This week, the combination of these meetings forced me to be away from the College for a full seven days.
The main venue for the meetings was the United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA) in Singapore. However, in an effort to be undisturbed, as well as a desire to minimise costs and environmental impact, the preliminary three-day Heads’ meeting was held in Sibu, a small Malay kampong (village) on the east coast of peninsular Malaysia comprising a few timber huts on stilts with no hot water, minimal electricity and definitely no internet or mobile phone reception. The photo at the top of this page shows the calm morning view I encountered as I woke on Tuesday morning.
The discussions that took place in the various committee meetings were extremely wide ranging and very significant as a means to feed recommendations through to the UWC Board meetings, where many important decisions are typically made on the philosophy and future directions of the UWC Movement. I have just finished typing my notes from the week’s meetings for distribution to the board, staff and students at my UWC in Hong Kong, and the notes totalled 14 pages. It is really not possible to do justice to the depth and range of issues that have been filling my head for the past week, but to give just a brief idea, let me share as bullet points some of the especially significant and compelling matters discussed:
•the key but sometimes puzzling relationship between the Heads Committee and the Education Committee was clarified and refined;
•the possibility of establishing an Education Reference Group (a type of ‘think tank’) was explored;
•a document titled “Guiding Principles of UWC Schools and Colleges” was defined and approved;
•reports on the three pilot programs in different UWCs to develop the UWC Diploma were examined, and a future pathway to develop the UWC Diploma was agreed;
•the uniform Code of Conduct for UWC students was modified slightly and approved by the Board;
•a significant and wide-ranging discussion took place to evaluate the needs-based scholarships pilot program, and a plan of action to reform admissions and financial support in all UWCs was begun;
•a process to develop a standard UWC-wide process of accreditation and self-evaluation, based on CIS (Council of International Schools) protocols, was agreed;
•plans for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of UWCs in 2012 were discussed and developed;
•some principles to clarify the financial relationships between colleges and national committees were articulated;
•a detailed report on the progress of the UWC strategic plan was presented, discussed and evaluated;
•a protocol was approved to facilitate the constructive engagement of conflicts between colleges and national committees;
•an outreach feasibility study was initiated;
•a progress report on fundraising was delivered;
•preliminary approval from the Board to establish a new college in Spain (UWC España) was reported;
•reports on the progress of several other new college proposals were also delivered and discussed, together with an update on the improved outlook for the future of UWC Mostar;
•annual reports from each United World College were presented to the UWC Council by the Head of each College;
•there was a demonstration of the soon-to-be-initiated UWC Extranet; and
•there were extensive small group discussions and reporting back on strategic and ethical considerations in UWC school and college development, focussing especially on the principles that should be followed when considering proposals to start new colleges;
As you might imagine, the discussions were intense, energising and visionary, and at times even momentous.
While of course concentrating on the content of the meetings, I was also making detailed mental notes throughout the week’s events as Li Po Chun United World College in Hong Kong will be hosting all these meetings in October 2011 - just one year from now.