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The President of the United World Colleges, Her Majesty Queen Noor of
Jordan and the Chair of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Nikola Spiric on 22 May officially opened the United World College in Mostar
and the international conference “United World Colleges - International
Baccalaureate Organization Programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a
Template for Educational Reform”.
Chair of UWC-IBO Executive Committee Lamija Tanovic, Her Majesty Queen Noor, Initiative's Patron Elisabeth Rehn, UWC-IBO Executive Committee Members George Walker, Jeff Thompson, Jasminka Bratic, David Sutcliffe, Michele Zanetti)
The event gathered over 300 guests, local education stakeholders, including heads of gymnazia from across Bosnia and Herzegovina, teachers, students, parents, pedagogical institutes, senior local and international officials, ministers of education, embassies and UWC-IB students.
Watching student performances from the audience, from left to right, Norwegian Ambassador Jan Braathu, Patron Elisabeth Rehn, UWCiM student Valon Xoxa, Her Majesty Queen Noor, UWCiM student Aida Odobasic, Mayor of Mostar Ljubo Beslic, Chair of Council of Ministers of BiH Nikola Spiric, UWCiM student Sofia Jankov)
At the event, held in Mostar’s Kosaca cultural centre, Her Majesty noted the potential of UWC in Mostar both for the local community and for the whole UWC movement. She said that the work of the UWC-IBO Initiative in Bosnia clearly manifested the commitment to “making education a force for a peaceful and sustainable future“.
Initiative's Patron Elisabeth Rehn, Headteacher of UWCiM Paul Regan, Her Majesty Queen Noor)
Queen Noor said that „in all our Colleges we bring young people together, often from across great divides. But here in Mostar this is being done not only to foster a sense among our students and graduates of how they can make the world a better place, but with the additional explicit intention of building bridges within a city and a country which remain deeply divided in their educational systems as much as within the rest of society“.
Her Majesty expressed gratitude to the founding team of UWC in Mostar, including Antonin Besse, David Sutcliffe and Pilvi Torsti, as well as to Elisabeth Rehn, Lamija Tanovic, Mirna Jancic, the staff of UWC in Mostar headed by Paul Regan, and the school authorities in the Mostar Gymnasium. Queen Noor also thanked the International Baccalaureate Organisation and the United World College of the Adriatic, the local authorities in the City of Mostar, international community organisations, and all the local, regional and national officials and authorities who gave support to the UWC-IBO initiative. "Without all your support we would not be here today," said Her Majesty.
In his speech, Dr. Nikola Špirić said that being present at the opening event of UWC in Mostar made him feel “beyond the time in which he was living…I feel that I am today in a different world, much better than the one which is around us”. Premier Spiric also promised to commit Bosnia’s state funds to support the work of the UWC-IBO Initiative, as proof that the country valued and gave significance to this project.
Dr. Nikola Spiric speaking at the UWCiM opening event)
„The special spirit of these colleges, which I strongly support, has to make great victory here in Bosnia and Herzegovina“, said Dr. Spiric, expressing hope that all the schools in the country will do everything „to reach this level of respect for others, tolerance and dialogue“.
: Mostar Mayor Ljubo Beslic, Premier Nikola Spiric, UWCiM student Sofija Jankov, Minister of Civil Affairs Sredoje Novic, Her Majesty Queen Noor)
The college opening event was in reality a celebration of the first successful school year of the college, which on 25 September last year opened for 66 students from across Bosnia and Herzegovina, and 26 students from abroad. The students put on several musical and dance performances at the ceremony on 22 May, impressing the audience with their talent and skills.
Also speaking at the opening of the event, the UWC-IBO programme's Patron, Minister Elisabeth Rehn, the former UN Undersecretary General and UN special envoy to Bosnia and Herzegovina, compared the success of UWC in Mostar to her previous efforts to solve Bosnia’s post-war problems.
“It has been a wonderful opportunity for me personally to see how many results a school like UWC in Mostar can produce for real reconciliation. Our young people are studying and living together, setting an example for all adults in BiH and worldwide,” said Rehn, adding that “BiH should be proud of hosting an educational institution like this, which hopefully will be a source for inspiration for other teachers in the country”.
On behalf of the City of Mostar, Mayor Ljubo Bešlić spoke at the opening event, reflecting on the importance of science and education as the main developing factors of all contemporary societies, and hence the key role that the UWC in Mostar played in that respect. “In that light we strongly supported the introducing of international secondary education here, with the establishment of the United World College in Mostar with its IB programme,“ said Beslic.
The Chair of UWC-IBO Initiative’s Executive Committee, Lamija Tanovic in her speech stressed that despite all the physical post-war reconstruction in the country, some important aspects such as education had been left behind. „For that reason, any educational project in BiH is extremely important, and especially projects such as the UWC-IBO Initiative. This project is important not only because it will help to heal a still divided city of Mostar, but also as it will be a source of new ideas which will be extremely important for secondary education reform in the country,“ said Tanovic.
The United World College in Mostar was set up within an existing local school, Gymnasium Mostar, which offers two separate local national programmes for students of the city's two main national groups. The Headmistress of the school, Ankica Covic, her deputy Bakir Krpo, and the Chair of Gymnasium Schoolboard who also became a member of the UWC-IBO Executive Committee, Jasminka Bratic have played a crucial role in the establishment of the college within the Gymnasium.
Initiative's Development Director Mirna Jancic, Initiative's Programme Director 2005-06 Pilvi Torsti, Headmistress of Mostar Gymnasium Ankica Covic, Queen Noor, Members of UWC-IBO Executive Committee Jasminka Bratic and David Sutcliffe)
At the opening event, Covic noted that the presence of students of all Bosnia's nationalities, and from around the world, who worked together, made friends and shared their experiences has been a great advantage for the school. „The wealth of difference, this multiculturalism all in one place is making us all richer and more complete persons who respect each other's differences. In the end I think that the founding of the United World College and IB programme in our town has given us all, especially the young people, an opportunity for a better future based on a stable ground of knowledge, tolerance and mutual respect,” said Covic.
Covic and Krpo work closely with the headteacher of UWC in Mostar, Paul Regan who in his opening speech gave an overview of the college's first year in Mostar. Regan stressed that the college could be proud of its achievements, which were „measurable in one simple fact; our 92 founding students have lived, played and studied and sometimes argued together, and have with growing maturity shaped themselves into a uniquely historical founding generation, and acquired in the process some high order learning and personal skills which will stay with them for all of their lives“.
Regan added that „more widely, we have seen a year in which local schools, teachers, ministries, pedagogical institutes, politicians and diplomats, have all shown their appreciation of the establishment of something new, influential, and innovative, and yes,- different”.
At the celebration at the Kosaca centre, Her Majesty Queen Noor officially marked the opening of the UWC in Mostar, by unveiling the college plaque, which would be placed in Gymnasium Mostar.
UWCiM students holding the College plaque with Queen Noor)
The launch of the UWC in Mostar was the result of years of work by a few committed individuals. At the opening cermony, for their commitment to the founding the UWC in Mostar, the Initiative's former programme director, Pilvi Torsti was awarded the Gourlay Award for Service to Peace, and the member of the Initiative's Executive Committee, David Sutcliffe was awarded the UWC Founder's Medal. The awards were announced by the Chair of the Board of Directors of UWC International, Tim Toyne Sewell, and presented by Her Majesty Queen Noor.
Queen Noor presents Pilvi Torsti the Gourlay Award for Service to Peace)
In her presentation during the follow-up conference on the UWC-IBO programme's potential to serve as a template for reform, Torsti reflected on the years of work that led to the setting up of UWC in Mostar. She recalled the efforts to raise funds, find suitable space for the college, work towards the reconstruction of the destroyed Mostar Gymnasium, secure political support for the programme, and work within an ever-changing international and local political situation, which continued to present a challenge for the project.
Torsti stressed that following two years of preparation, it had become clear that if the project hoped to achieve impact in the post-conflict reconstruction of the country, it could not work in isolation, and was therefore placed in the centre of the national school system, where it would share the local system's problems, its teachers, and its everyday work and realities.
Torsti made several action proposals to help realise the full potential of the UWC-IBO project, directed at the international community, donors and Bosnian politicians. She recommended that the international community in BiH strengthen its cooperation and the use of existing resources. Specifically, Torsti proposed that the OSCE, as the coordinator of the education sector, organise the first meeting ever where all relevant educational projects in Bosnia and all the 14 ministers of education would meet and draft an action plan.
Tosti's second proposal related to funding. „I would ask you all to consider funding strategies which stress the importance of flexibility and longer term support. Otherwise the full potential can never be realised,“ noted Torsti.
Adressing the Bosnian politicians, she called for the creation of favourable circumstances if international education in BiH were to flourish and that affected even the most practical issues such as visas and residence permits for students and teachers.
The UWC-IBO's programme is entirely supported by donations. As the representative of the Initiative's main sponsor, Ambassador Jan Braathu of the Kingdom of Norway said that „Education is one of the most politicised and ethnicized spheres of contemporary society in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Unfortunately, the commitment to a united Bosnia and Herzegovina in the educational sector appears to be weak, at best. This is a major cause for political concern“.
Ambassador Braathu said that the educational model demonstrated by UWC in Mostar flew in the face of established practice and accepted truths which were prevalent in the country, by proving that it was possible to have a common and shared curriculum for all students, and to teach difficult and sensitive issues to mixed groups of students in a way that increased common understanding as well as knowledge.
„Dealing with a difficult past, both recent, and perhaps also distant, is manageable in a professional teaching environment,“ said Braathu, adding „The message is quite simple. Integration works, and works well in Mostar. Why should it not work well throughout the country?”
The UWC-IBO Initiative in BiH aims to present the programme's values to teachers from across the country, and conducts series of professional development workshops for Bosnia's teachers, led by the former director of Slovenia's Pedagogical Institute, Ivan Lorencic, who reformed the country's examination system according to the IB model. In a presentation at the conference, Zdenka Keuc, one of the workshop leaders, presented the aims of this programme and the results of the most recent teacher training workshops held in May 2007, where 28 schools were represented from across the country, including 6 pedagogical institutes.
Slovenian expert participation in this project was further highlighted by the presentation of Slavko Gaber, Slovenia's former Minister of Education. Gaber higlighted that for a country to introduce a new educational model based on its own tradition but still efficient enough to follow the pace with the rest of the modern world, it needed to look at international educational experience, but also engage its own political agreements, local educational experts who were familiar with all the major educational reforms in the world, and enlist the help of parents.
Gaber said that back in the 1990s, Slovenia had decided to consider the International Baccalaureate teaching model as a reference point for its education reform. They strove for the dignity of the student as the aim of reform, and devoted a lot of attention to how to nurture both the common and the dividing elements between students.
Looking at the IB model, he said that Slovenia had decided to only partially adopt the IB teaching approach and the organisation of teaching as it would have been too expensive to adopt in their entirety. They also only partially adopted the „coexistence of upbringing and education, which is a step that has left room for further improvement,“ noted Gaber. Nonetheless, the former minister said, Slovenia had decided to fully adopt the international system's high standards as its guiding philosophy, and to establish schools of high quality, offering the IB programmes, as role models for others.
The UWC-IBO Initiative is also taking part in an interregional project called PACE (Project, Agency, Cooperation, Education), directed at reestablishing educational connections between countries of the Balkans and the Adriatic region (BiH, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, Serbia). Speaking at the conference, Sandy Thomas of United World College of the Adriatic said that the project's plan was to establish new connections among teachers through organizing workshops for the creation of didactic materials, by piloting innovative materials in schools, and by supporting, monitoring and evaluating the pilot. „We hope that we will soon manage to form an online community of teachers and students across frontiers,” said Thomas. The partners in this project are the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Herzegovina- Neretva Canton in BiH, the Ministry of Education and Sport of the Republic of Serbia, ZAMETES-National Agency for International Scientific, Educational, Cultural and Technical Cooperation of the Republic of Montenegro, Forum for Freedom in Education from Croatia, Mostar Gymnasium, the City of Mortar, the United World College of the Adriatic, the United World College in Mostar, and the University of Venice Ca’Foscari-Centre for Excellence for Research in Didactics and Advanced Training.
Following the conference presentations, Queen Noor visited Gymnasium Mostar, within which the college is housed, spoke to the students, and toured the part of the building assigned to UWC which has not been repaired since the war.
His Excellency called for the Minister for Civil Affairs, Sredoje Novic, to urgently give priority to an increased coordination capacity in education at the state level, in the form of an effective State level Education Directorate.
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Speaking at the Tallberg Forum in Sweden,
Thursday, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah challenged the Western
perceptions of Arab women, Islam and conflicts in the region, and
warned "failure to appreciate the other side's point of view is a
greater barrier to communication than speaking different languages".
Expressing
fear that many in the West equate Islam with acts of violence, Queen
Rania emphasized that Islam is actually "a moral compass that
emphasizes mercy, equality, charity, tolerance, and peace… Islam is
under siege distorted by violent extremists from within and demonized
from without. "
Her Majesty also emphasized that most of the
conflict in the Middle East is rooted in "the injustice, occupation,
desperation, and decades of sadness and suffering -- most notably in
Palestine where, after 50 years, the peace process is stumbling, while
the humanitarian crisis is accelerating."
Challenging the
western view of Arab women as passive and oppressed, Queen Rania
highlighted Arab women as "taking an ever-greater role in society… and,
at the same time, because Arab culture venerates the family, a woman’s
predominant role in the household is seen as a source of strength".
Speaking
on a very personal note, the Queen said, "For me, as a Muslim and a
mother of four, the schism that worries me most is the growing gulf of
perception and trust between the Muslim world and the West. The only
people who benefit from our disunity are the extremists – the very
forces who threaten the hopes we share for a better tomorrow".
Her
Majesty said, "All of us need to work harder to see one another's point
of view – to appreciate how our varied perspectives color our sense of
reality".
Delivering the keynote address to an audience of
over 1,000 attendees, including Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria;
Princess Deema bint Turki bin Abdul Aziz Al Soud; Bo Ekman, Chairman of
the Tallberg Foundation; and other high profile European personalities,
Queen Rania warned, "the longer we wait to build genuine multicultural
understanding, the more human nature will be degraded by ignorance,
suspicion, and fear".
Referring to the famous Earthrise photo
captured from Apollo 8, in 1968, Queen Rania noted how we are all part
of a "single global commons we were privileged to share."
"I
wish we could say that iconic photo was enough to inspire world peace.
Regrettably, almost four decades later, the dream of peace has yet to
be reached," she said as she urged the audience to look at the
different perspectives of the world today and realize that what the
world holds in common, far exceeds those differences.
Many of
Queen Rania's programs have focused on appreciating the various
perspectives in the world, finding common ground and bridging the
cultural divide between East and West because, she believes, "We are
one human family, and co-inhabitants of one world".
"We have
no greater responsibility…. we have no greater moral duty" than to
safeguard the earth's future, she reminded the audience. "You are
planting the seeds of cross-cultural common ground – from which the
Tallberg spirit can take root around the world. My challenge to you, in
your time together, and once you take flight on the wind, is to help
the values you celebrate here to flourish wherever you go," said the
Queen.
The theme of this year's forum is "How on earth can we live together? Learn to live to learn".
HRH Princess Basma Bint Talal opened the Sixth Arab Media Women Conference
Algemeen
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27 Juni 2007 | 11:06:15
HRH Princess Basma Bint Talal opened today the
Sixth Arab Media Women Conference, which is organized by the Arab Media
Women Center (AMWC) in cooperation with German-based Konrad Adenauer
Foundation.
The conference is being held under the theme “Towards Comprehensive Arab Media Honour Charter”
Princess
Basma expressed confidence that Arab media women would reach a media
honour charter that is accepted and welcomed. She added that reaching a
formula for this charter forms part of the challenge, noting that the
other and more difficult challenge is the true commitment of this
charter.
Director of AMWC Mahasin Al Imam said that there is
need for more efforts and work to increase media freedom and protect
rights of media persons during crisis and emergency situations.
Regional
representative of Konrad Adenauer Foundation said that realizing
democracy can not be achieved through building institutions or carrying
out elections, but rather through education for democracy.
(petra)
Two steadfast advocates for promoting
educational opportunities, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and His
Royal Highness Prince Talal Ben Abdul Aziz, joined forces, Tuesday, to
lay the cornerstone for the Arab Open University's campus in Jordan.
The real wealth of this university is its 'openness' to new technology,
to new learning methodologies, and most importantly, to those seeking
knowledge – the young man in a rural area too far from a university
town, to a working mother who still wants to learn after she puts her
children to bed at night, to a retiree who hasn’t quenched his thirst
for learning and still has a lot to offer society," said the Queen.
The
campus, which is set to be completed in approximately two years, rests
on 12,000 square meters, which were allocated by the Jordanian
government.
Prince Talal, president of the Arab Gulf Program
for United Nations Development Organization (AGFUND) and co-chair of
the Arab Open University (AOU) board of trustees, launched the Pan-Arab
Fundraising Campaign, which Queen Rania called "a collaboration of
conscience, commitment and giving". The proceeds from the fund will be
used to expand the campus infrastructure, improve the internet
facilities, and produce Arabized course material.
The AOU,
which started enrolling students in 2002, functions under the umbrella
of AGFUND as a private pan-Arab institution of higher education. It has
branches in Kuwait (where it is headquartered), Lebanon, Jordan,
Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
In March 2007, AOU held its
first commencement ceremony for over 500 students from the region, in
Kuwait. AOU is associated with the United Kingdom Open University,
which allows students to graduate with a dual degree from UKOU and AOU.
(petra)
King of Hearts
Video's
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22 Juni 2007 | 19:17:58
Very nice video of one of my favorites kings!
His Majesty King Abdullah II on Monday opened
the Queen Rania Al-Abdullah Center, which the King donated, for
military personnel with special needs, in Al-Jandaweel area in
appreciation for their sacrifice for the sake of the homeland.
In the presence of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, His Majesty
unveiled a memorial plaque of the center, which will extend its
services to the brave Jordanian armed forces and security services,
that were injured while performing their duty and serving the country.
The King was briefed by HRH Prince Mered bin Rad, the President of the
Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization, on the center, its facilities
and services it provides for about 2232 people.
The opening was attended by His Royal Highness Prince Rad bin Zeid, the
Prime Minister, President of the Royal Court, the Director of the Kings
Office, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a number of
senior officials, civilians and soldiers.
(petra)
Lisa Halaby married the king of Jordan, Hussein I, on June 15, 1978.
In 1978 Arab-American Lisa Halaby left
behind her western lifestyle, converted to Islam and married Jordan's
handsome King Hussein. The king named her Queen Noor al-Hussein, " the
light of Hussein." The fairy-tale romance endured for more than two
decades, until the king's death in 1999.
Her Majesty Queen Rania on Thursday commended Gyermekek Haza’s
efforts to merge special needs students with their peers during a visit
to the school with Hungarian first lady Erzsebet Solyom.
The
exemplary school, located in Budapest, has worked to integrate special
needs and disabled students into mainstream education.
During
a tour of the facilities, Queen Rania, a prominent advocate for
providing equal access to quality education, noted her enthusiasm at
seeing how helpful and supportive the students were with each other.
The
Hungarian government has been working to integrate disabled students
into mainstream education for this purpose. In 1993, all schools in
Hungary were ordered to cater to children with special needs;
previously they had to study at separate facilities.
The
Gyermekek Haza, which translates to Children’s House, was founded in
1991 and caters to 174 students, 30 of them are disabled.
By
allocating between two or three seats per classroom to children with
special needs, the school ensures that the students spend time with
their peers and receive the same quality of education.
Queen
Rania and the Hungarian first lady discussed the integration programme
with the school’s faculty, who noted that they welcome teachers from
both Hungary and abroad for training and observation.
Queen
Rania said she looked forward to seeing future collaboration between
them and Jordan “so that they can apply [the strategies] at home.”
The
school has been recognised locally and internationally as a model
institution because of its child-centred strategies and techniques used
to facilitate learning.
Queen Rania, who is accompanying
His Majesty King Abdullah on a working trip to Budapest, also joined
the Hungarian first lady on a visit to the Fisherman’s Bastion, a
historical terrace on the banks of the Danube River.
Built
in neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque styles, the terrace was designed and
built between 1895 and 1902. Its seven towers represent the seven
Magyar tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 896.
The
Bastion takes its name from the guild of fishermen which was
responsible for defending this stretch of the city walls in the Middle
Ages. 
(petra)
Her Majesty Queen Rania on Tuesday directed the Royal Medical
Services to purchase 10 dialysis units, laser instrumentation for the
treatment of benign urological tumours, electric wheelchairs and
medical beds for their patients.
The Queen issued the
instructions during a meeting of the Higher Committee of the Queen
Rania Society for the Welfare of Servicemen and Families (QRSWSF).
During
the meeting, attended by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff General
Khaled Sarayreh, Queen Rania, who is the QRSWSF chairperson, stressed
the importance of expanding the society’s operations and programmes by
building centres across the Kingdom.
The centres will
provide families of military servicemen with easy access to needed
services, in addition to promoting the chances for building
partnerships with civic society institutions and the private and public
sectors, the Queen said.
She also underlined the need to
draw up a plan to implement the project, specifying the needs of
different areas and their priorities, to begin with the construction of
the centres outside Amman.
Commending the achievements
of the QRSWSF, which has, so far, launched 619 projects, she called on
the participants to benefit from related experiences of the Jordan
River Foundation.
Highlighting the pressures on the Royal
Medical Services in light of the great number of patients, Queen Rania
asked the society’s administration to work towards securing necessary
services.
Meanwhile, chairman of the QRSWSF executive
committee, General Staff Major General Abdullah Shdeifat, briefed the
gathering on the society’s efforts over the past year.
As
a result of QRSWSF studies, the society extended financial aid to 2,144
families, in addition to monthly assistance to 630 others.
During the meeting, several beneficiaries explained how the society’s services had helped them.
Following
the meeting, the Queen attended a ceremony held at the military academy
in Zarqa marking Army Day and the anniversary of the Great Arab Revolt.
At the end of the ceremony, the Queen honoured 35 families who have benefited from the society’s services.
Students from military schools performed a musical depicting the story of independence and Arabisation of the Army.
(petra)
HRH Prince Hashem, the youngest brother of His Majesty King Abdullah, turned 26 on Saturday.
Born in Amman
to the late King Hussein and Her Majesty Queen Noor on June 10, 1981,
the Prince completed his elementary education in the capital and later
enrolled at St. Marks School and Maret High School in Washington, DC.
He graduated from Maret in 1999 and later attended Sandhurst Military Academy in the UK, from which he graduated in 2000.
The Prince was awarded the Prince Saud Ben Abdullah Prize, presented to the
foreign cadet with the highest grades.
He also received several medals from Jordan and other countries.
Prince
Hashem, who serves in the Jordan Armed Forces with the rank of captain,
has received training in marksmanship, anti-terrorist combat and Royal
Guard security training.
The Prince graduated from Georgetown University in August 2005. He has been sworn in as Regent several times.
On
January 6, 2006, Prince Hashem was married to Her Highness Princess
Fahdah, the daughter of Mohammad Ben Ibrahim Ben Suleiman Abu Niyyan,
and in Apri, Their Royal Highnesses had a baby girl named Haalah Bent
Hashem.
Currently, Prince Hashem is the honorary president of the Jordanian Kickboxing Union.
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