Patrons and Governance

Her Royal Highness Queen Sonja of Norway is the patron of UWC Red Cross Nordic. She opened the College formally on September 30th, 1995. She has supported the College from its earliest days and has consistently spoken positively about the UWCs in general and our College in particular. Since 1993, she has visited the College many times and has expressed a desire to meet every single student who graduates from the College.

The patrons of the UWC movement include:

• Shelby M.C. Davis
• Lu Pat Ng
• Hon W. Galen Weston

Governance

Visitors, staff and students at the 2018 Council Meeting

The College is governed by a Board and a Council in accordance with the statutes of the Red Cross Nordic United World College Foundation.

UWC Red Cross Nordic Board elected from 2017:

• Chair: Kristin Vinje
  Kristin Vinje was elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 2013 and served on the Standing Committee on Education, Research, and Church Affairs. She has held positions including Vice Mayor for Education (City of Oslo) and Vice Mayor for Finance (City of Oslo). Her professional experience includes research within petrochemistry and catalysis, materials science and polymer chemistry in both academia and industry.
  Kristin currently works as Vice Dean of the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo. Kristin has served as Chair of UWC Red Cross Nordic since June 2017.
• Deputy Chair: Hans Lindemann (Denmark)
• Sweden: Jan Bjørkman
• Iceland: Sigridur Anna Thordardottir
• Norwegian Red Cross: Liv Ronglan
• UWC Norway: Ivar Lund-Mathiesen
• Staff Rep: Kåre Dale
• Student Rep: Oliver Püvi

Deputies

• Norway: Laila Bokhari
• Astrid Søgnen
• UWC Norway: Espen Stedje
• Norwegian Red Cross: Lars Sagvold

The Council is chaired by Pär Stenbäck from Finland, and is composed of representatives from:

• the UWC National Committees of Denmark, Finland, Færoe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Åland;
• the Norwegian Red Cross;
• Sogn og Fjordane County;
• Fjaler Municipality;
• Sogn og Fjordane Red Cross;
• other elected members.