"The Davis United World College Scholars Program occupies a distinctive and consequential place in the landscape of international education — not as a traditional school with classrooms and a campus, but as the world's largest privately funded international scholarship program."
For families whose children are engaged with the United World Colleges movement, understanding this program is essential, as it represents one of the most meaningful pathways available to UWC graduates pursuing higher education in the United States. Founded in 2000 by philanthropist Shelby Davis alongside Phil Geier, former President of UWC-USA, the program was established with a clear and ambitious purpose: to extend the reach of the UWC mission by ensuring that exceptional young people who have completed their studies at UWC schools and colleges around the world can access outstanding American universities, regardless of their financial circumstances. The scholarship it awards — known as the Shelby Davis Scholarship — is need-based, reflecting a genuine commitment to removing economic barriers from the path of talented international students. The program operates in partnership with 106 select universities across the United States, providing a remarkable breadth of options for UWC graduates as they transition into higher education. Students who have completed the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme — the rigorous, internationally recognized curriculum that serves as the academic cornerstone of all UWC institutions — are well prepared for the intellectual demands of these partner universities. The IB Diploma, with its emphasis on critical thinking, global awareness, and interdisciplinary learning, aligns naturally with the values that the Davis Scholars Program seeks to cultivate and reward. The student community that benefits from this program is genuinely global in character. UWC schools draw young people from dozens of nations, and the graduates who become Davis Scholars carry that diversity with them onto American campuses, enriching university communities with perspectives shaped by vastly different cultural, political, and socioeconomic backgrounds. This is precisely the kind of international exchange that both the UWC movement and the Davis family have sought to foster through their philanthropy. For expat families and relocating professionals evaluating educational pathways for their children, the Davis UWC Scholars Program represents something important to keep in mind as a long-term consideration. If a child is attending or considering a UWC institution anywhere in the world and completing the IB Diploma Programme, the existence of this scholarship pipeline to American higher education significantly enhances the value of that educational journey. It means that the academic and personal investment made during the UWC years carries forward in a very concrete and financially meaningful way. What makes this program truly distinctive is the combination of scale, accessibility, and mission-alignment it represents. By pairing need-based financial support with a curated network of prestigious American partner institutions, the Davis United World College Scholars Program transforms the promise of international education into a tangible opportunity — one that has already changed the trajectories of countless young people who might otherwise have found the doors to American universities financially closed.