NUS announces Asian Peace Programme partnership with UWCSEA
Source: press release
The United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA), and the National University of Singapore (NUS) Asian Peace Programme (APP) launch a partnership on the UN International Day of Peace.
Together, UWCSEA and APP have established a 1-year research-based fellowship position at the APP with a focus on discussion and research about peace, peace building and conflict with a focus on ASEAN and SEA. In addition, the UWCSEA student community will participate in an essay competition which will empower the College’s students to write and publish a piece on the topic of peace.
This partnership will play an important role in UWCSEA’s ambitions to reimagine education, with APP and UWCSEA united in their mission to understand and promote the voice and actions of youth in peace and peacebuilding initiatives in Asia.
UWCSEA and Mr Kishore Mahbubani, who heads the APP as Asia Research Institute (ARI) Distinguished Fellow and is a former Permanent Secretary in the Foreign Ministry, Singapore, have a strong history of collaborative work. During his time as Chair of the UWCSEA Board of Governors, Mr Mahbubani was instrumental in the College’s expansion which ultimately led to the development of the second campus in Tampines.
In honour of International Day of Peace, and as part of the UWCSEA 50th anniversary celebrations, Mr Mahubani will join Carma Elliot, UWCSEA’s inaugural College President for a fireside chat themed ‘Perspectives on Peace’. The first of this year’s Kishore Mahbubani Speaker Series events, Kishore will join Carma, a former career diplomat with the British Foreign Office who spent much of her career in China. Together, they will discuss topics including reflections on internationalism and the changing world order, ASEAN in a post-pandemic future with the rising importance of regional blocs, and the voice of young people in the peace conversation.
The UN International Day of Peace has become a fixture in the calendars of thousands of people around the world. The date has been marked on the calendar of the global UWC movement as UWC Day, which sees the global community, including the 20,000-strong global UWCSEA alumni community come together, to celebrate the strength and diversity of the UWC movement and its collective mission to create a more peaceful and sustainable future.
At a time when COVID-19 is still impacting the lives of us all, by amplifying many points of inequality and ongoing injustices, and the increasing effects of the mounting climate crisis is being felt globally, it is hoped that conversations on peace will spread hope to those who take the time to think about the future and how they can play their part in creating a more peaceful world.
Commenting on the APP partnership Carma Elliot, College President of UWCSEA, commented:
“We are proud to be partnering with the Asian Peace Programme at such a significant and pivotal time for our young people and wider community. Peacebuilding is, and always has been, a core mission competency at UWCSEA, and one that underpins the school’s curriculum, its philosophy of learning and its community engagement. The past year has shone a light on the many global and local challenges faced by people from all walks of life. The Partnership, and the values it will help to instill in our children will help to shape the way tomorrow is imagined, paving the way for a more peaceful world. I want to thank the whole UWC community, and our partners, for their efforts and contributions in bringing the 50th anniversary celebrations to life and creating lasting memories for us all.”
Mr Kishore Mahbubani, Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Research Institute (ARI) at the National University Singapore, said:
“Making peace is not necessarily about having a certain skill. It's more about having a certain commitment to try and bridge the gaps in understanding within people, and trying to reach out to understand a different point of view…And that's what UWCSEA tries to do.” [NP1]
To capture the Colleges expertise on teachings of peace, a whitepaper, ‘Educating for peace: UWCSEA’s mission for future peacebuilders’ has been published to coincide with International Day of Peace. The paper details ways in which peace can be defined, practiced and taught through peace education frameworks.
Opened by Lee Kuan Yew in 1971, UWCSEA is celebrating 50 years in Singapore. The school was founded with the mission to make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future, values that are at the core of the school’s teachings today.
As part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the College in the 2021/2022 school year, UWCSEA has committed to incorporating “Peace” as a foundational element of the celebration.