DILIJAN — The 2019/20 academic year for UWC Dilijan has been, by all accounts, like no other. In October the college marked its 5th Anniversary. With the spread of COVID-19, UWC Dilijan had to switch to an online model of teaching the IB curriculum, as most of the students had to travel back to their home countries. UWC Dilijan, with its international student and staff body, its international board, has had its values tested while adapting to the new reality.
Following the tradition of gathering at the end of every academic year, the UWC Dilijan community got together once again before saying goodbye for the summer. Watch the recording of UWC Dilijan’s virtual Year-End Global Gathering to hear some inspiring stories from students, alumni and supporters of the college.
Class of 2020 university results:
Out of 109 students of the class of 2020, 87 have been admitted to universities, 18 are taking a gap year and 4 students are awaiting university offers. The number of university acceptances this year is 294, while the total number of universities is 105.
Top universities this year:
USA: Harvard, Brown, Duke, Stanford, Northwestern Universities, University of Chicago; Wellesley, Middlebury, Davidson Colleges
Canada: the University of British Columbia, University of Toronto
UK: University College London, King’s College London, the University of Edinburgh
The Netherlands: Leiden and Utrecht Universities, University of Amsterdam
Singapore: Yale-NUS College
UAE: NYU Abu Dhabi
Universities by geography:
Geographically, 45% of universities that accepted UWC Dilijan students are located in the USA, 28% – in the UK. Among other top countries are the Netherlands (8%), France (4%), Germany and Canada (2%).
Many UWC graduates become Davis Scholars, attending one of the 99 partner institutions in the USA via the Shelby Davis scholarship program. This year UWC Dilijan has 60 Shelby Davis Scholars.
“Founded in 2014, UWC Dilijan has been demonstrating resilience because of its vibrant community of students, staff, parents, supporters and friends, and in spite of the current challenges, it is in a position to arise stronger from the crisis. Bringing young people together to build international understanding is taking a new meaning in this new reality. Let us ensure that the barriers imposed by COVID-19 will not diminish our resolve to work towards a more peaceful and equitable world,” says Gabriel Ernesto Abad Fernandez, Head of College.
“The crisis affects us all, but our personal response to it contributes to how the situation unfolds and what we are as individuals, societies and communities. To this end, the response to this crisis by the school, students, staff, parents, Board and our generous supporters has been beyond my expectations. I feel that as a community we have been standing shoulder to shoulder,” says Veronika Zonabend, the Chair of the Board and co-founder of UWC Dilijan.
About UWC Dilijan
UWC Dilijan is the first international boarding school of the UWC education model in the region. The college opened in 2014 in the Armenian town of Dilijan and currently has 226 students enrolled from more than 80 countries and 36 academic staff members from 15 countries.
UWC Dilijan represents an exciting extension of the UWC movement into the Caucasus region at the junction of Asia and Europe. Established in 1962, the UWC educational movement now comprises 18 international schools and colleges, national committees in more than 155 countries, and a series of short educational programs.
UWC Dilijan was initiated and masterminded by impact investors and entrepreneurs Ruben Vardanyan and Veronika Zonabend with the support of other Founding Patrons. The college was built with generous donations from over 330 benefactors. Its admissions policy aims to make enrollment available to anyone, regardless of socio-economic background, on the basis of demonstrated need. Over 80% of students receive full or partial scholarships.
The UWC Dilijan academic program – The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) – is an assessed program for students aged 16 to 19.
UWC Dilijan has five generations of alumni from 2016 to 2020; many of them continue their education at leading universities worldwide – Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Columbia, UCL, Duke, Berkeley, McGill, University of Edinburgh, Minerva School at KGI and many more.
