UWC schools, colleges and programmes deliver a challenging and transformative educational experience to a diverse cross section of students, inspiring them to create a more peaceful and sustainable future. UWC was founded in 1962 with the vision of bringing together young people whose experience was of the political conflict of the cold war era, offering an educational experience based on shared learning, collaboration and understanding so that the students would act as champions of peace. We remain committed to this goal today but have expanded our reach to embrace the tensions and conflicts that exist within as well as between societies. UWC has 12 schools and colleges educating students aged between 2 and 19, with 2 more due to open in 2014. The education at UWC schools and colleges is underpinned by shared guiding principles. UWC short programmes offer a condensed UWC experience and take UWC's mission and values to a wider audience. UWC schools, college and programmes all have distinctive characters but share the same commitment to UWC's mission and values. UWC depends on the dedication and expertise of an active volunteer based network called national committees. National committees operate in more than 140 countries to recruit, select and prepare more than 1000 students every year to join our colleges, schools and short programmes.