Purposeful diversity is the key to UWC education and is a guiding principle for selection to RCN. We strongly believe that bringing together young persons from different backgrounds – cultural, political and social – for a shared educational experience is mutually beneficial to all, given that we create arenas where all take part on the same terms. Our aim for the students is that they shall learn and grow in all fields during their time here; be it in the residential, academic or extra-academic areas.
No Limits
Every year some students arrive at UWC RCN linguistically and academically unprepared to manage the demands of the two year IB Diploma Programme. These students are identified early by the Academic Support Team and invited to attend the UWC RCN 3-week Summer Course (in advance of the start of the academic year), which gives them exposure to and lessons in English, helps orient them to their new environment, provides them with a supportive network of friends and introduces them to UWC values, expectations and activities.
The Foundation Year is a tailor-made course focused on English language development, study skills, and foundation in Maths, Science, Humanities and IT – alongside a holistic approach as expressed in the UWC Educational Model through extra-curricular challenges and our residential programme, emphasizing trust and a sense of belonging. The participants will take our UWC Red Cross Nordic Foundation Diploma – and this will be awarded at the end of the course. The main aims are to build confidence, nurture participation in our deliberately diverse student community, and prepare students for the demands of the two year IB Diploma or course certificates. Each student will be given a tailor-made timetable and individual tuition with more appropriate challenges, organised / supervised by the Learning Support Team.
Our human environment of purposeful diversity becomes a resource for all when each and everyone is equipped to learn, progress and share.
For more detailed information about the Foundation Programme, please click here for a written description and here for a visual flow chart.
Thanks to the Høegh Foundation and the Davis-UWC IMPACT Challenge for enabling us to set up the support infrastructure through our 20th Anniversary campaign in 2015 – and to Zoya Taylor and Harald Møller for their generous donation to the programme in 2017. The Foundation Year is a crucial component for our purposely diverse recruitment.
