MEDIA RELEASE NO EMBARGO February 2012 UWC scholarship offers chance of a lifetime Imagine a genuine high school cultural

l exchange not with just one nationality, but with upwards of 80, and for two years not merely two months. For the 40th year, in 2012 UWC Australia is offering up to six talented high school students such an opportunity. This years United World College places will enable these six students to complete the last two years of their schooling overseas studying the International Baccalaureate in either Hong Kong, Costa Rica, Swaziland or Wales. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the first UWC, Atlantic College in Wales. UWC now has 13 schools spread around the globe. The full scholarship is for a place at the Li Po Chun United World College in Hong Kong, where a student from New South Wales will spend two years studying for their International Baccalaureate and living on campus with classmates from upwards of 80 different nationalities. The successful applicant will start their first year joining two other Australians who will be returning for their second year at the school. Verity Cook (from Geelong, Victoria), who will graduate from Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong in May, says the UWC experience is unique and life changing: UWC has provided me with an unparalleled opportunity to interact with people from an array of different cultures in an everyday context, she explained. The knowledge I have gained from other people regarding their cultures, languages, customs and ideas have been something I could not have gained in any other environment. The experience does not end at graduation, with UWC alumni putting their global connections into action. One example is 2008 Li Po Chun graduate Alistair Campbell, who established debating programs in Iraq to empower and connect youth in that war-torn country. My experience at UWC gave me the voice and tools necessary to make concrete progress toward a sustainable and peaceful future, he said. The faces of human suffering around the world suddenly became my friends, as I was able to place a human perspective on conflict in the world. This year UWC Australia is offering one full scholarship to a current resident of New South Wales, and five unfunded places to students resident anywhere in Australia. The five unfunded places are at the UWCs in Hong Kong, Wales and Swaziland, as well as a place at the UWC in Costa Rica that comes with the possibility of a scholarship of up to 50%, pending a means test by the College. Further details are available on the UWC Australia website. Applications for the 2012 UWC scholarships and places close on March 16. Further details about UWC and application details are available at www.uwc.org.au. For further information or to arrange an interview contact: Stratos Patsikatheodorou 0401 295 179 Alistair Campbell 0431 662 513

UWC AUSTRALIA GPO Box 1272, Sydney NSW 2001, Australia Email: enquiries@uwc.org.au Website: www.uwc.org.au

United World Colleges (Australia) Trust Ltd. ACN 008 498 637 UWC Australia is a registered charity in NSW