The United Nations University for Peace

(these pictures are from various costa rica hikes)

YAYYYYYY!!!

i just wanted to say that i got accepted to the masters in peace education program at the United Nations Univesity for Peace in Costa Rica.... i am so honored and excited!!!

what the heck is that and what does it mean you may think to yourself! well here is some info from their webpage: www.upeace.org

about the school:
Headquartered in Costa Rica, the United Nations-mandated University for Peace was established in December 1980 as a Treaty Organization by the UN General Assembly. As determined in the Charter of the University, the mission of the University for Peace is: “to provide humanity with an international institution of higher education for peace 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.”

To ensure academic freedom, the University was established under its own Charter, approved by the General Assembly. UPEACE is not subject to UN regulations and is directed by its own Council of renowned personalities with expertise in peace and security matters. This has allowed the University to move rapidly and to innovate, focusing its new, rigorous academic programme on the fundamental causes of conflict through a multidisciplinary, multicultural-oriented approach.

The wider mission of the University should be seen in the context of the worldwide peace and security objectives of the United Nations. The central importance of education, training and research in all their aspects to build the foundations of peace and progress and to reduce the prejudice and hatred on which violence, conflict and terrorism are based is increasingly recognized. The Charter of the University calls for UPEACE “to contribute to the great universal task of educating for peace by engaging in teaching, research, post-graduate training and dissemination of knowledge fundamental to the full development of the human person and societies through the interdisciplinary study of all matters related to peace”.

Funding of UPEACE programmes comes from the support of a number of donor governments, foundations and institutions who believe in the mission of the University. Fundraising for an endowment fund is in progress.

The vision of UPEACE is to become a network of collaborating UPEACE centres and activities in different regions, guided from its headquarters in Costa Rica and cooperating with a large number of universities, NGOs and other partners on education and research for peace.


ABOUT PEACE ED:
Peace Education

Description

In recent years, there has been a growing, world-wide recognition of the central role played by education in meeting the complex demands of peacemaking and peace building. Often lacking, however, are individuals prepared with the knowledge and skills to act as leaders for educational reform to support sustainable peace processes.

The UPEACE Master's Degree Programme in Peace Education is designed to train such individuals. The programme will build the capacity of educators from around the world to contribute to educational, social, and cultural change through peace education. It is designed to enable participants to effectively engage in peace education at all levels, from the design of educational policy to the development of effective and culturally relevant peace education programmes, to the actual skills of teaching for peace both in and out of the classroom.

The programme assumes that a peace educator must have a broad knowledge of the basic concepts and skills within the multidisciplinary areas that converge in contemporary peace studies. Graduates of the programme will also be specialists in the application of the insights of peace studies within the broader social and cultural environments within which formal and non-formal education take place.
The centerpiece of the programme is the project development process. While participating in the UPEACE Peace Education Programme, peace education students will work on the development of an educational project that can be immediately applicable in an educational setting of the student's choosing.

Objectives
The MA in Peace Education Programme designates two main interdependent learning outcomes to be pursued:

To prepare leaders and specialists committed to the building of a culture of peace and non-violence by educational means (formal, non formal and informal settings);
To support students in developing competence in analyzing, developing, and reforming curricula, didactic methods, pedagogies, and educational resources for a comprehensive view of peace education.

(its my dream school!)