Waterford Kamhlaba UWC

This Swaziland-based school, which has a long anti-apartheid history, offers students an opportunity to experience the diverse realities of a modern African country.  

Location: Mbabane, Swaziland

Student profile: 600 students aged 11 to 20

Founded: 1963, and it became a UWC school in 1981
Campus and facilities: Waterford Kamhlaba UWC is a pan-African school with a global outlook. Campus buildings are attractive but deliberately modest, to reflect the fact that students are living in a country where 70% of people live on less than a dollar a day. 

Specialisms: The school was founded in 1963 in opposition to the apartheid system of education practised in South Africa. To carry on this anti-apartheid tradition, there’s particular focus on recruiting students from countries in Africa that have experienced, or are experiencing, conflict. 

Students come from different backgrounds in terms of age, experience, culture and economics. 

As a developed world institution in a developing country, the school offers many opportunities for students to experience first-hand some of the paradoxes, contrasts and opportunities of the world they live in. 

Beyond the classroom: Students can take part in 25 different projects that reflect the college's values, including:

• promoting international and cultural understanding
• caring for orphans
• teaching literacy
• building soup kitchens for some of the most impoverished communities in Swaziland
• taking part in environmental initiatives 
• teaching sports to vulnerable children
• supporting those affected by HIV and Aids, which has had a devastating impact in Swaziland as in so many sub-Saharan African countries. 

There’s a vigorous and wide-ranging programme of extra-curricular activities in the evenings and at weekends. These include student-led initiatives such as: film festivals, workshops and discussions about current affairs and international issues. 

Find out more about Waterford Kamhlaba UWC.