The executive director of UWC (United World Colleges) International has called on public and private education sectors to work together in order to prepare young people to address global risks.
Jens Waltermann spoke at today’s ‘Education for Transformation’ event in Davos during the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting.
He said: “We need leadership for a new kind of education that encourages and supports students from an early age to create positive change and appreciate and address global risks. Empowering education across social divides is needed to address the global risks spelled out in the WEF Global Risks Report 2020.
“Only when we have citizens who can work across boundaries to come up with shared solutions to shared problems are we on the path to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”
We need to make the flexibility and quality of private education accessible to the many through comprehensive scholarship systems
This means addressing the split between private schools and public education, according to Waltermann.
“We need to make the flexibility and quality of private education accessible to the many through comprehensive scholarship systems. Not for profit-private schools can play an important role,” he said.
More than two thirds of places at UWC in 2020 are reserved for applicants in need of financial assistance, either on full or partial scholarships. UWC consists of 18 schools and colleges on four continents, with the first college founded in Wales: UWC Atlantic College. The independent sixth form in Glamorgan offers the IB Diploma Programme.
UWC contributed to the white paper published by the World Economic Forum ‘Schools of the Future: Defining New Models of Education for the Fourth Industrial Revolution’, outlining eight characteristics and skills that define high-quality learning.
