The Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong (LPCUWC, ), established in 1992, is an International Baccalaureate boarding school in Wu Kai Sha (烏溪沙), Hong Kong, within walking distance of Wu Kai Sha station. It is the eighth member of the today 18-member United World Colleges movement, and was the first United World College to be founded in Asia.
Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong is a subvented school receiving 22 per cent of its funding from the Hong Kong Government's Direct Subsidy Scheme, but commands the highest school fees of all such organisations. According to the Wall Street Journal in late 2007 and the Brown Daily Herald in 2014, the college has top university acceptance rates and is identified as one of the world's top 50 schools for its success in preparing students to enter Ivy League universities, one of only two schools located outside the US, and the only UWC outside the US to make it into the list.
In 2019, the school initiated a solar power system, installing 1,168 panels on campus and will use the revenue generated to provide need-based scholarship for students from grassroots families or developing countries.
History
Li Po Chun UWC was founded as the first Asian member of the UWC movement. Others having been established in Wales, Canada, Norway, Italy, India, Singapore, Eswatini, United States, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Germany, Armenia, China, Thailand, Japan and Tanzania. Patrons of the college and the movement include Nelson Mandela, Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, and the Prince of Wales. The first college, UWC Atlantic College, was established by the German educationalist Kurt Hahn to promote international understanding and peace.
In 1978, Dr Lee Quo-Wei GMB JP, as the Chair of the UWC Hong Kong Selections Committee, was selecting Hong Kong students to study in overseas UWC schools and colleges. He later initiated the idea of building a UWC college in Hong Kong with the help of Mr Li Shiu Tsang MBE JP, who set up the Li Po Chun Charitable Trust. The Trust donated HK$100 million towards the construction of the college, while the Hong Kong government gifted a former mining site in Ma On Shan as the campus. With the support of Sir David Wilson, then Governor of Hong Kong, and the then Principal of UWC Atlantic College, David Sutcliffe, the college was opened on 6 September 1992 by HRH the Prince of Wales. Li Po Chun UWC was one of the first International Baccalaureate schools, and the first international boarding school, in Hong Kong.
Since 2000, UWC graduates have been eligible to participate in the Shelby Davis Scholarship program, the largest international scholarship program for undergraduate studies in the world, which funds UWC students attending leading US universities.
Admissions
Li Po Chun UWC admits students from over 110 countries in addition to students from many local Hong Kong schools. The student body is made up of roughly 42% local and 58% overseas students. In the year 2020–2021, students coming from all 6 inhabited continents represented 90 countries in the world.
Students for all of the United World Colleges are selected by UWC National Committees or selection contacts in over 150 countries on merit, and many receive scholarships. Similar to students from overseas who are selected by the national selection committees of their home countries, local Hong Kong students are chosen by the UWC Hong Kong Committee.
The Hong Kong selection process has 3 rounds. The first short-listing is based on a written application composed of both short and long answer questions about the applicant's extracurricular and community service experience as well as the applicant's academic performance in the past two years, their recommendation form and their interest in UWC. At this stage, students are given the opportunity to rank their top 10 choices of college out of the 18 colleges. The shortlisted group of students is then invited to participate in the school's Challenge Day, a day camp consisting of group activities led by over 100 alumni, teachers and students, usually held in the winter. The final stage of the process is an individual interview with the Principal and a committee composed of an experienced UWC alumni and an external, independent interviewer. Out of the 300 or so Hong Kong students that apply every year, 50 are accepted to Li Po Chun UWC, with an additional 15 sent to other United World Colleges around the world, where they represent Hong Kong.