Renewed Corendon partnership

April 2, 2020

The Corendon and UWC Maastricht partnership was renewed last year. This was decided upon after a visit of UWC students. These scholars received a scholarship provided by Corendon the past year, which formed reason for them to travel to Badhoevedorp to tell the organisation about their first year in the Netherlands. Mariana, Madalena and Lucas all come from Portugal. Thanks to the support of Corendon Hotels & Resorts they could start at UWC Maastricht, after a selection. The threesome is now halfway their education in the Netherlands. In Badhoevedorp, where the Corendon Village Hotel is located, they talked to Corendon about what they have been up to so far.

A UWC Maastricht education is in many ways different from going to any other secondary school. Not only do students come from all over the world, part of them also lives on campus. In Badhoevedorp Mariana, Madalena and Lucas shared their experiences and told for instance about what it’s like to share a room with three other students, each from a different nationality. They also spoke about topics like sustainability, social responsibility and climate change, which are all important for UWC Maastricht. This is a close link with Corendon, since this company has a broad corporate social responsibility policy. The students were very much impressed by how a big company like Corendon knows how to translate this into its organisation. One of them says: “Corendon showed me that big businesses can also care about sustainability and that money and profit are not always everything. I was a bit nervous about meeting Corendon, I wanted to make sure that we would say the right things. But once there, I really liked everything, everyone was very welcoming and I felt happy for having the opportunity to thank the company that is sponsoring my education.”

Corendon too feels positive about the meeting and decided to continue the partnership. “This way we can support the Portugese society as well. Students who graduate from UWC Maastricht often go back to their home country, where they hand over their knowledge. They are active in their local community, the village or city where they come from or they participate in a project in their home region. The skills they got from UWC Maastricht are put into practice everywhere around the world and are handed over to others. This way we can create a more beautiful world together. Every day over again!”, says Gunay Uslu, chair Corendon Foundation.