NORMAN — The University of Oklahoma is being awarded the prestigious Davis Cup for the fifth consecutive year in recognition of its record-setting enrollment of United World College international freshmen. OU is the only public university in the nation to ever be awarded the Davis Cup and also has the largest total enrollment of Davis United World College Scholars in the United States. This year’s freshman class includes 63 Davis UWC Scholars, a new OU record.
“The University of Oklahoma has been greatly benefitted from having some of the most gifted students in the world become members of the OU family,” said OU President David L. Boren.
“We congratulate the University of Oklahoma for once again winning the Davis Cup by matriculating the largest number of new scholars from around the world,” wrote Shelby Davis and Phil Geier, co-founders of the Davis UWC Scholars Program. “Doing so for five consecutive years clearly demonstrates how committed Oklahoma is to promoting international understanding through education. We are especially proud of President Boren for his leadership in making Oklahoma the premier partner school among our 95 colleges and universities nationwide.”
OU is among other Davis UWC Scholars Program partner colleges and universities in the United States, including Yale; Princeton; Brown; the universities of North Carolina, Virginia and Michigan; Duke; Columbia; and MIT. OU has 212 Davis UWC Scholars currently enrolled representing more than 79 countries and 15 of the 17 United World College campuses worldwide.
“I could never have imagined there would be over 200 Davis Scholars enrolled at OU after welcoming our first class of four UWC students in fall 2008,” said Craig Hayes, director of the OU Davis UWC Scholars Program. “These scholars from across the globe have added greatly to the fabric of the OU family, and I am exceedingly proud of the warm welcome and generous hospitality my alma mater has extended to them throughout the years. My life has been enriched significantly by interacting with our Davis Scholars.”
As the largest scholarship program for undergraduate students in the world, students are selected from around the globe to attend their United World College, where they finish their last two years of secondary education. Students participate in a rigorous International Baccalaureate curriculum employed with all-English instruction.
A diverse international student population exists at each of the now 17 UWCs worldwide, including countries such as Hong Kong, India, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore and Swaziland to name a few. No more than 25 percent of the students at each school can be from the country where the school is located.
United World College was founded in 1962 with the vision of bringing together young people, whose experience was of the political conflict of the cold war era, offering an educational experience based on shared learning, collaboration and understanding so that the students would act as champions of peace. A UWC education instills in its students outstanding academic abilities and a proven capacity to build relationships with people from a variety of backgrounds.
Davis UWC Scholars have earned a reputation of not only being outstanding students but exceptional members of the university community as well. Since 2008, when OU enrolled its first UWC scholars, these students have achieved recognition as members of the President’s Leadership Class, President’s Community Scholars and as Outstanding Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors. They have served in a variety of leadership roles, including as Ronnie K. Irani Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth team leaders, International Advisory Committee executive officers and resident advisers.
