MUN Conference 2016

2018-10-16T09:32:48+01:00February 16th, 2016|

MUN 2016 - in the General Assembly

MUN 2016 – in the General Assembly

The three-day conference began on Saturday 30th January and ended on Monday 1st of February, taking place immediately after the Red Cross First Aid PBL. Model United Nations is a simulation that adopts the way that the UN itself functions and aims to make students aware of the world’s most important trending global issues and problems. In this years MUN, we had six different committees tackling current global issues. The stimulating and engaging topics had delegates debating these global issues amongst each another.

During the MUN weekend, the conference was honoured by a visit from a former UN Assistant Secretary General, Hans Von Sponeck – a man who has been in the UN for over 32 years and has been involved in numerous negotiations during his time. He opened the conference on Saturday morning with a speech discussing the need for action, and encouraging the youth to become informed – to sift through the wealth of available information and be able to recognise and use reliable facts and data. This was a way of urging individuals to develop an inquisitiveness which stimulates questioning and to not settle for mediocrity.

The MUN team was led by second years: the security team was under Edwina Bezuidenhoudt (Namibia) and the press team was led by Anna Kwok (Hong Kong). This is not to forget the twelve chairs who directed and conducted debates in their individual committees. The weekend was a challenging one as it required the delegates to be thinking on their feet – especially when they needed to respond to the emergency crisis that the organising team weaved in to the weekend events in order to encourage independent and quick thinking in wrapping up a resolution. This included a special crisis meeting on Monday morning which required some of the delegates having to be woken up at 5am, as they went back in time to the 9/11 twin tower bombing scenario in the USA. The delegates did an outstanding job resulting in Adrian Sidhu (UK) being recognised as the best speaker for this crisis committee.

We finally had the General Assembly discussing the threat of ISIL on the global community. This led to debates and drafted resolutions from some weary and thoroughly exhausted delegates. With a two-thirds majority, the General Assembly was adjourned and this led to the presentation of certificates. Having been donated by Hans Von Sponeck, the best speakers from each committee won themselves a fresh copy of the UN Charter! The General Assembly’s best speaker was recognised as Elliot James (UK) who throughout the course of the sessions confidently spoke up and articulately argued for his positions as a delegate of his country.

The conference was successful. Special mention must go to Global Politics teacher Narender Dalal who gave great input to the events and their preparation. A lot of hard work from many individuals helps to explain this MUN’s success. It all went smoothly and hopefully was a memorable weekend for the first years.

Blessing Chirimbani (RCN ’14-’16)
Secretary General 2016

On the Death of Giulio Regeni

2016-02-12T13:27:00+01:00February 12th, 2016|

United World College International would like to extend their condolences to Giulio Regeni’s family, friends and all those that were touched by him in the UWC community and beyond.

In 2005 Giulio Regeni obtained a scholarship from the Friuli Venezia Giulia Italian regional government which enabled him to attend the UWC-USA in New Mexico. This experience inspired him to pursue his university education in England, where he was studying for a PhD at Cambridge University in the Department of Politics and International Studies.

We are calling on Egyptian authorities to do everything in their power to bring to light the circumstances of his murder.

With UWC Adriatic, UWC-USA and the entire UWC community, we mourn the loss of a young man who was following his dreams and the mission of UWC.

Please take the time to read up on the situation and see whether you are able to take any of the following actions:
1. A letter has been signed by over 4600 academics worldwide requesting an investigation into what has happened and the freedom of academic research: click here.

2. There is an online petition to the UK government for a full investigation (it can only be signed by UK nationals and residents): click here.

3. There is another petition on change.org: click here.

4. The BBC has been reporting on the issue: click here.

5. The Egyptian national committee has also written a response: click here.

Further information can be found on the UWC Adriatic site.

See more at here. 

Mohamed Amine Belarbi (’10 -’12)

2018-10-16T09:32:49+01:00February 9th, 2016|

Mohamed Amine Belarbi has been involved and engaged since graduating in 2012. From RCN he went straight to New York University in Abu Dhabi where he is not only successfully pursuing his studies but is also something of a serial entrepreneur, having founded two NGOs and two businesses. His entrepreneurship-focused publication, Gulf Elite has 40,000 readers a month, and his Arabic publication, Business Arabi has 30,000 readers in the region. He also founded the ‘Opportunities for Students‘ facebook group, which has 49,000 international student members where opportunities – for internships, competitions, conferences, scholarships and more – are shared for the benefit of a worldwide student population.

As icing on the cake, in late 2015 at the 3rd Arabian Business Achievement Awards – celebrating the UAE’s most impressive achievers in the growing startup and small-medium business sector – Mohamed was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

Here he is at a TEDx event delivering a talk titled, ‘The Entrepreneur Within Us’; and here is a written profile and interview with him.

For profiles and news of other students and alumni, click here.

Neil Davis Friluftsliv PBL

2018-10-16T09:32:49+01:00February 8th, 2016|

Neil Davis Memorial PBL - getting ready to go

Neil Davis Memorial PBL – getting ready to go

The intention of the inaugural Neil Davis Memorial PBL was to get students away from ski lifts, giving opportunity and attention to appreciating outdoor experiences in a wintery wilderness context. So it seemed somehow fitting that in the weeks preceding the ‘Project-based learning’ week, we had experienced a large snowfall, then a week of strangely warm weather with winds that removed most of the snow, then, in the days immediately before the start of the week, a hurricane hit the west coast somewhat to the north of us – bringing huge snowfall and widespread power outages.

The trip description had advertised strenuous snow shovelling, food of dubious quality and the importance of a certain disregard for comfort. Unfortunately, a Costa Rican had to miss the trip, leaving us with two Danes, two Dutch and a random South African. Given reservations that there might not be enough snow, we erected a lavvu for the first night, then spent a few hours adding snow to the potential roof of the potential cave. The next day, sweaty shovelling indeed created a homely cave; a welcome shelter from the incessant falling powder and breeze outside. Nearly half a metre of powder on the slopes made for comfortable face-plants – an approach to skiing apparently shared by both Danish and Dutch nationals. We had magnificent friluftsliv experiences, including simple meals richly appreciated by all participants in the frozen desert-like Gaularfjell!

We are very grateful to the Davis family, Mike and Lee, for providing the funding to make this annual event possible.

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