The University for Peace

The way I see it, in order to help develop peace all over the world, there are two things to focus on. Spreading the understanding to all people, the difference peace actually does to them, their communities and countries, and getting the knowledge out there of how to succeed in doing it. The University for Peace is working with exactly those things.

Grown from the United Nations, the University has its headquarters and main campus in Costa Rica and increases its number of partners all over the world, right now including programs or affiliated institutions in South America, Africa, central and pacific Asia, Europe, Canada, the Philippines and an office in New York. The official mission is “to provide humanity with an international institution of higher education for peace and with the aim of promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, to stimulate cooperation among peoples and to help lessen obstacles and threats to world peace and progress, in keeping with the noble aspirations proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations”.

Just as it seems, the focus of improving the world peace is education. Students are taking master programs in the fields of peace and conflict studies. Some programs offered right now are Environmental security and peace, where Gender and Peace Building, International Law and Human Rights, Peace Education, International Peace studies, Media and Conflict Studies and several others. There are also three special master programs; Asia Leaders Programme, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development and HUFS Dual Programme, which includes studies at a Korean Foreign Study university. The courses taught are similar everywhere, adapted to local cultures and conditions at different locations. The headquarter is disseminating course materials to partner universities for them to teach and develop and offering distance education and continuing education programs. The courses are not only given to graduate students but also to mid-career professionals, leaders of civil society, business, the military, etc. The teachers of the University are multi high degree professors and doctors and above all having years of experience in working with peace in a lot of different perspectives. To apply you have to write a complete application of who you are. It should include work of your own, preferably essays. There should also be letters of recommendation written by faculty or other individuals qualified to evaluate your potential for graduate study. You have to write a statement of purpose including reasons for applying, your expectations, career prospects and background in multicultural experience. There are a lot of possibilities to receive a scholarship at the University, some of the programs even have an automatic scholarship for admitted students.

By educating people at this very high level, they can help human beings, societies, even countries, everywhere, starting chains of information, inspiration and will to change, by passing their knowledge on. I believe that the concept is an amazing way to go. Even when so many people want to have peace and want to help others to have it, it will always come down to how it can be done. The work needs leaders to guide people. And they have to be top performers.