Yerevan /Mediamax/. UWC Dilijan College hosted a ceremony to welcome future students from Armenia, organized by the UWC (United World Colleges) National Committee in Armenia.

In 2016, 20 students were selected to enter the UWC system and will already begin their studies in August.

The future students were welcomed by the CEO of the Initiatives for Development of Armenia (IDeA) Foundation Edgar Manukyan, and the representative of the UWC National Committee of Armenia Daria Brodnikovskaya.

“This is an excellent opportunity for graduates to meet the next generation of students and share their experience of studying, and for the children, who will soon begin their education in autumn, to receive a farewell talk and advice from their senior friends. At these meetings, we, the organizers see the open dialogue, and the lively discussions between the students and graduates, telling us how much in demand a modern education is, as well as those humanitarian values which are shared by the United World Colleges educational movement,” said Daria Brodnikovskaya, representative of the UWC National Committee in Armenia.

During the presentation of selection process results, she noted that this year, as in previous ones, the competition to enter UWC colleges was very high. As a result of the three stages of the selection process, 20 applicants from Yerevan, Dilijan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Etchmiadzin, as well as Parakar in Armavir Province and Nor Kharberd in Ararat Province of Armenia were admitted. From these, eight of the students will study at UWC Dilijan College, with the rest heading off to UWC colleges in Singapore, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, America, India and the new college in China.

Welcoming the new students, the director of UWC Dilijan College John Puddefoot stressed that an education at UWC is a unique experience and provides a life-changing opportunity.

“It is not just that you can go and spend two years in Germany or UK or Costa Rica or Swaziland. It is that when you are there, you have the opportunity to share two years of your lives with people from up to a hundred different nationalities. And even if you are coming to Dilijan, which is just down the road from where you live, the reality is that you will be visiting the rest of the world here. So you will have opportunity to share Armenian culture whether you are in Dilijan or anywhere else in the world in the other colleges with people from just about everywhere on earth․ Whether you are here or abroad, you represent a window through which the world can see Dilijan and Armenia,” said John Puddefoot.

All the students from Armenia received a full or partial scholarship for their studies with the assistance of UWC Dilijan’s co-founders Ruben Vardanyan and Veronika Zonabend, the founding partners of the college, chairman of the board of the charitable organization AFFA, Gagik Adibekyan, Ameria Group and also Nicolaus and Christiane Weickart as well the IDeA Foundation.

Scholarships to UWC colleges are given on a needs-based system and are distributed on a demonstrated need after considering documents and statements confirming the family’s financial means. As far as the fund has limited resources, the demonstrated need system allows scholarships to go to candidates who most need them, in the amount that they actually require.

During the event it was announced that two graduates of UWC Dilijan College, Alina Khachatryan and Manana Hakobyan had received scholarships from the Scholae Mundi Foundation and the Masis Development Fund, giving them the opportunity to continue their education in some of the best universities of the world – the University of Edinburgh and the University of California, Berkeley.

“We believe that a good education is a foundation for the future. Therefore, it is important to study at the best universities, and take the best that the world can offer. We believe that Manana and Alina, and other Armenian UWC graduates, will return home and do everything to make Armenia became a successful country, and a place where people want to come and where they want to live,” said the co-founder of the Scholae Mundi Foundation Veronika Zonabend.

Since the UWC National Committee in Armenia was created in 2011, 75 people from Armenia have entered the UWC system, of which 29 were admitted to UWC Dilijan with the remaining 46 going to other UWC colleges.