The founders of the Foundation are Ruben Vardanyan and Veronika Zonabend. “Scholae Mundi” Charity Foundation provides, among other things, the financial support to the National Committee “United World Colleges” (UWC) in Russia.
The UWC system provides students from different countries with the unique education which transforms a personality and which requires a lot of efforts. One of the essential tasks of UWC movement, which unites 16 colleges all around the world, is to encourage young people from different countries to work together for the sake of peaceful and sustainable future for the whole humanity.
In order to gain the right to study in the UWC colleges students, who are 16-17 years old, take part in three stages of selective competition. The competition is organized by the National Committees of UWC in 154 countries of the world including Russia. During the selection process, the financial potential of the students’ families is not taken into consideration. The successful candidates are distributed among the UWC colleges where they get full or partial stipends or a place without financing support. Most of the students study with full or partial grants.
Endowment Fund “ISTOKI” will provide stipends for studies at UWC colleges for gifted children from Russian families with many children whose parents don’t have financial resources to pay for the education. The Grant Committee will be selecting the candidates. Ekaterina Gerus – Executive Director of Endowment Fund “ISTOKI” – has become a member of the Committee.
Ekaterina Gerus: “The scholarship programme aimed at the support for gifted children from large families combines the two most important directions of our activity: development of the projects focused on supporting family and keeping traditional family values, and development of youth educational programmes. Our grant-holders get a wonderful chance to enhance their career and life, as the fact that they finished an international college offers the opportunity to continue the education in the best universities in the world and to become a high-end professional”.
Ekaterina Gerus: “The scholarship programme aimed at the support for gifted children from large families combines the two most important directions of our activity: development of the projects focused on supporting family and keeping traditional family values, and development of youth educational programmes. Our grant-holders get a wonderful chance to enhance their career and life, as the fact that they finished an international college offers the opportunity to continue the education in the best universities in the world and to become a high-end professional”. Daria Pakina, 17 years old, from the Yaroslavl region, became the first holder of the scholarship to study in UWC Dilijan College (Armenia). Daria started her learning in September 2016. The two years of education at the college cost seventy thousand US dollars.
Veronika Zonabend: “We are grateful to Endowment Fund “ISTOKI” for the beginning of our cooperation. I am happy for Daria who has an interesting and complex period of studies at UWC Dilijan College ahead of her. There she will find new friends from different counties of the world. The UWC system does not only offer the education of high international level. It also grows socially active young people who try to make the world a better place. To support such kind of education means to contribute to the future of the youth and to the future of our country”.
Veronika Zonabend: “We are grateful to Endowment Fund “ISTOKI” for the beginning of our cooperation. I am happy for Daria who has an interesting and complex period of studies at UWC Dilijan College ahead of her. There she will find new friends from different counties of the world. The UWC system does not only offer the education of high international level. It also grows socially active young people who try to make the world a better place. To support such kind of education means to contribute to the future of the youth and to the future of our country”.Additional information
UWC Dilijan College in Dilijan (Armenia) was founded by Ruben Vardanyan and Veronika Zonabend along with other partners with support from 200 donors from different countries. It is the first international college which is included in the UWC system on the ex-Soviet territory. As it is the case in other UWC colleges, the teaching in this college is conducted in English language upon the IB Diploma programme. This programme is acknowledged by leading world universities.
