Kurt Hahn was a genius of experiential education in the 20th century, whose legacy shines forth through four institutions of renown -- the Gordonstoun School in Scotland, the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, the United World Colleges in thirteen nations, and Outward Bound, found in thirty five nations on all five of the major continents.
Although a German citizen, Hahn decided to settle down in Britain in 1933. Once a man of means, he had overnight become a penniless refugee. His days at Christ Church, Oxford University, from 1910 to 1914 had left him a wide circle of influential friends in Britain. Discouraged and emotionally exhausted he decided to go to north of Scotland, where he had convalesced in the summer after illness in his Oxford years. His fortitude began to return. With a friend, Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton, he inspected the partially empty castle at Gordonstoun, which was badly in need of repair. Less than a year later, in April 1934, Gordonstoun opened as a school for boys; by September there were 21 students. Among them was a Greek prince of Danish blood, Philip, who would in 1947 marry Elizabeth, later to become a queen of England.
Now, coming to our topic of the day, another tribute to Hahn's educational theories is the United World Colleges (UWC). In 1962 Hahn pioneered, with the help of Sir Lawrence Darball and many others, the opening of the first United World College, The College of The Atlantic at St. Donat's Castle in Wales. As an Air Marshall in the Royal Air Force, Sir Lawrence Darball had been Commandant of the Nato Staff Training College, where he had experienced, at first hand, the benefits of training people of many nationalities together.
It had always been Hahn's view that education was a means of reducing national barriers and fostering international cooperation. This is the basic concept of the United World Colleges. Outstanding students at an impressionable age of between of 15 to 18 being brought close together are bound to make lifelong friendships. When they return home undoubtedly they will rise to influential posts in their country and will promote better international understanding and relations.
Throughout the history of the United World Colleges, notable world leaders have been instrumental in furthering Kurt Hahn's goal of producing goodwill and world peace among youngsters of an impressionable age. Lord Mountbatten became the first president of the International Council of the United World Colleges in 1965. He was succeeded by his grand nephew H.R.H. the Prince of Wales in 1978. In 1995, Prince Charles passed the title to Nelson Mandela and was succeeded by H.M. Queen Noor of Jordan.
I have had the privilege of being a member of the Selection Committee of the United World College Society for Bangladesh for nearly 25 years now under the chairmanship of A.B.A. Siraj Uddowlah. Each year we select 6 to 10 students for scholarships to the 13 United World Colleges spread worldwide across 5 continents. The scholarships are intended for the most outstandingly brilliant students aged around 15-17. For me, the interviews are an extraordinary experience as the boys and girls have incredible educational achievements, are most articulate, and also proficient in extra curricular activities.
The scholarships are advertised in the newspapers and presentations are also given to the prominent schools of the country. The entry requirement is a minimum of 6 As in the GCE O level or GPA 5 in the SSC examination. The applicants have to sit for the written test and those who qualify are required to go through an oral test. In practice, we have found that for the boys and girls getting 9 As or 10 As or GPA 5 is more the rule than the exception. Our better schools where the entry requirements are quite severe have extremely good results.
One phenomenon is that our girls do far better than our boys in the tests. Most of the successful applicants end up in 5 or 6 of the 13 UWCs worldwide. In almost all the UWCs the boys and girls are required to complete the International Baccalaureate, which is presently universally accepted as the entry qualification to all the universities of the world. Since the intake of UWCs is of such a high standard, the results are also comparable. The UWCs are the springboard for full scholarship to the top universities of the world including, the IVY League of the US and Oxford and Cambridge of England. Our alumni, particularly the girls, have done so well in the universities that they invariably end up with top jobs in the US, UK and international organisations like World Bank, IMF, UN etc. If you have a meritorious student in your family there can be no better route to the best education other than the United World College. There are UWC committees in over 130 countries which select candidates for the 13 UWCs spread over 5 continents.
For recent regional meetings of the UWC Country Committees held in Hanoi in 2008 and Singapore in 2011, I did some research about how well our alumni were doing in life. Almost without exception the majority of them end up in either IVY League Universities of US or Oxford and Cambridge in UK. A few examples -- Syed Tanveer Hussain's daughter got first class first in English at Oxford and first class first in MA in Chinese, and ended up with a job in an international organisation with a salary of over £100,000 per year. Former managing editor of The Daily Star Fahim Munaim's son got 100% scholarship to Harvard and is presently Vice President of Deutsche Bank in New York.
More than 90% of the UWCs students go on to graduate from university, many from the top universities of the world, and more than 50% have post graduate qualifications. Many universities have scholarship schemes intended specially for UWC graduates. So far, over thirty thousand students have graduated from the UWCs. They can be found in all walks of life -- in medicine, business, politics, education, international relations, NGOs, arts and media -- and they all share a determination to make a difference.

The writer, a scholar and researcher, specialises in the history of the Subcontinent.
(Persons interested in UWC may contact UWC Society for Bangladesh www.uwcbd.org)