ERIC Number: ED522403
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 183
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: ISBN-978-1-1242-5314-5
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Enduring Effects of a United World College (UWC) Education as Seen through a Graduate's Eyes
Tsumagari, Maki Ito
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Fielding Graduate University
Over the last 50 years, the United World Colleges (UWC), which consist of 13 pre-university educational institutions across the world, have become a distinctive global education brand. UWC is frequently referred to as the only example of a purely ideology-driven international education model based on the school's adherence to certain key principles and practices, such as recruiting students directly from their national education systems and not from expatriate or other globally mobile families. Nevertheless, for all of the interest in UWC as an international education model, there is limited research on the impact that this model has on its graduates' later lives. This study sought to provide evidence of the enduring effects of a UWC education guided by the central research question: What are the long-term effects of the UWC ideology-based international education on a graduate's later life? An interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) of an autoethnography by a graduate of UWC of the Atlantic that covered her life trajectory over 25 years was performed. The researcher was also the subject of the study. The results of the study support that the UWC education has had enduring effects on the graduate's later life. The UWC's core values that the school hoped to instill in its students became an integral part of her belief system and have guided her human development. Even 25 years after her graduation from UWC and despite her work in an environment that provides her with enormous exposure to global events and trends, she still refers to the experiences and exposure that she received at UWC to inform her worldview. The results of the study also support that the effects of her UWC education have been amplified over time. Over the course of a quarter century, in responding to life's challenges, the graduate has incubated her own ideal in seeking relevance to the changing world for the whole life environment that UWC had provided to nurture international togetherness on a personal level and across the globe. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: International Education, Schools, Ideology, Values, Higher Education, Colleges, Global Education, Models
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A