The 17 United World Colleges around the world do not select students directly. Rather, students apply to a National Committee in their country of birth or residence (depending on specific eligibility criteria). National Committees run their own selections processes, which vary between countries.

Each National Committee is allocated a certain number of places at each college, and selects students to fill these places. The Zambia National Committee is thus responsible for selecting students from Zambia to attend UWC. The National Committee system ensures a diverse range of nationalities are represented at every UWC.

What does the Zambia Committee do?

The National Committee’s main purpose is to select suitable representatives from Zambia to attend select UWCs each year.

It is also the aim of the National Committee to raise awareness of the United World Colleges in Zambia, to ensure wider representation of applicants from different economic and cultural backgrounds, in order to more fairly represent the wide spectrum of Zambian society at the various UWCs.

The National Committee also acts a link for UWC graduates of any nationality living in Zambia. It is an information source for anybody in the UWC community wishing to get involved in UWC-related activities, as well as graduates searching for local contacts in Zambia.

Open meetings and social gatherings are scheduled every month in Lusaka and graduates are encouraged to attend so they can meet other UWCers in the city and keep up to date on UWC and National Committee issues. We hope to soon expand to other areas of the country. The UWC ‘connection’ continues to be an important part of many graduates lives long after they leave UWC, enabling them to meet like-minded individuals working or studying in similar fields, or having similar interests.

Members of the National Committee are volunteers and are not paid for their work. Members are graduates (of any nationality) of the various UWC colleges, ex-UWC teachers, parents and friends. We always welcome new volunteers, so please contact us if you would like to get involved.