About the United Nations-mandated University for Peace

UPEACE campus landscape with flags

UPEACE Vision:

To become a network of collaborating UPEACE centres and activities in every region around the world, guided from our headquarters in Costa Rica and cooperating with a large number of universities, non-governmental organizations and other partners in education, research, and training for peace and security.

 

UPEACE Mission:

To provide humanity with an international institution of higher education for peace with the aim of promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, to stimulate cooperation among peoples and to help lessen obstacles and threats to world peace and progress, in keeping with the noble aspirations proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations.

 

Overview:

Headquartered in Costa Rica, the United Nations-mandated University for Peace was established in December 1980 as a Treaty Organization by the UN General Assembly. As determined in the Charter of the University and endorsed by the UPEACE Council.

To ensure academic freedom, the University was established under its own Charter, approved by the General Assembly. UPEACE is not subject to UN regulations and is directed by its own Council of renowned personalities with expertise in Peace and Security matters. This has allowed the University to move rapidly and to innovate, focusing its new, rigorous academic programme on the fundamental causes of conflict through a multidisciplinary, multicultural-oriented approach.

The wider mission of the University should be seen in the context of the worldwide Peace and Security objectives of the United Nations. The central importance of Education, Training and Research in all their aspects to build the foundations of Peace and Progress and to reduce the prejudice and hatred on which violence, conflict and terrorism are based is increasingly recognized. The Charter of the University calls for UPEACE “to contribute to the great universal task of educating for Peace by engaging in teaching, research, post-graduate training and dissemination of knowledge fundamental to the full development of the human person and societies through the interdisciplinary study of all matters related to peace”.

Funding for UPEACE programs comes from the support of a number of donor governments, foundations and institutions who believe in the mission of the University. Fundraising for an endowment fund is in progress.

 

Video Testimonials:

Click on the names below to watch short clips about life at UPEACE!

  • Mahmoud Hamid (Sudan): Mahmoud Hamid, assistant professor in the Environmental Security and Peace program, discusses the engaging and open educational climate at UPEACE and shares some background on his personal research focus – the socioeconomic consequences of water scarcity in Africa.
  • Kazutoshi "Koe" Yoshino (Japan): Koe talks about his immense satisfaction with the peace education program and the University for Peace. He also shares some details about a local educational project he carried out with young children from a nearby Nicaraguan refugee community called La Carpio.
  • Dominic Stucker (USA): Dominic discusses how teaching in the Peace Corps in Central Asia where he met his wife(Abigail Stucker ‘06) led him to pursue a career in peace studies and to apply to UPEACE. Dominic also underscores the need for more institutions like UPEACE to balance out the amount of resources that go into military type work and he values the deep relationships formed at UPEACE. His twins are now 2 years old!
  • Saleh Bala (Nigeria): Saleh is a colonel who took leave from the Nigerian army to study in the International Peace Studies program. He discusses the importance of his UPEACE masters degree in providing him with new tools and approaches for the AU peacekeeping missions he frequently participates in. He appreciates the direct and diverse nature of dialogue at UPEACE and is very grateful to have learned so much about the many elements of conflict resolution and the scope of gender issues in the world today.
  • Sujata Thapa (Nepal): Sujata, a graduate of the Gender and Peace building program, talks about why she was attracted to the gender program as an activist and researcher in Nepal.She explains why this program is unique and how she will utilize the tools she has acquired in her country.
  • Zahid Ahmed (Pakistan): Zahid decided to study Peace Education at UPEACE after a textbook case study with teachers materials from India and Pakistan revealed to him the power of education in shaping and perpetuating conflict. He values the smiles, laughter and singing that goes on at UPEACE.