US philanthropist and financier Shelby Davis has donated $10m to global education movement United World Colleges (UWC). The donation will be used to provide financial support to disadvantaged children, enabling them to study at one of 18 UWC schools around the world.
Shelby Davis follows in the footsteps of his parents, who also donated significant sums of money to education, right up until the death of Shelby’s mother Kathryn Davis in 2013.
The donation is part of Dare to Dream, which was launched by Davis in 2018 and has provided 100 two-year scholarships worth $50,000 each to students. UWC says the new pledge will enable them to provide 300 scholarship opportunities.
The education philanthropist said he hopes the scheme will help create a new set of global citizens committed to bridging differences across country, race, religion and outlook.
Shelby Davis commented:
A goal like this takes continuous leadership, time, effort and resources to help a divided world come closer together for the good of humanity. Providing support to the UWC movement is a concrete way to nurture hope… of a more peaceful and prosperous world.
The recent announcement coincides with the run-up to the 60th anniversary for the UWC movement, which was based on the ideas of renowned educator and one of its founding fathers Kurt Hahn, who was recently depicted in the Netflix series The Crown.
Dare to Dream goes hand-in-hand with a wider scheme started by Shelby and international educator Phil Geier more than 20 years ago. The Davis United World College Scholars Program has turned into the world’s largest international scholarship programme for university undergraduates, supporting nearly 10,500 young people on to higher education in the US.
Image by United World Colleges