I.

Introduction

The Mahindra United World College of India is one of ten campuses worldwide under the
United Wordl Colleges banner that offer an International Baccalaureate two-year diploma,
which is accepted for admission into universities around the globe. The college houses about
two hundred students and twenty-five faculty members on a residential campus for a nine-
month academic year. It is a self-sufficient campus, located 40 kilometres to the west of
Pune, a city which in turn is about 100 kilometres south-east of Mumbai, the commercial
capital of India. The campus plan is divided into an academic area and a residential 'village'.
The whole campus is totally pedestrianized. All the college buildings are constructed of local
stone, with integrated gardens and courtyards to give the feeling of a village. Student and
faculty residences are based on traditional Indian design. Each cottage, which has its own
verandah and courtyard, accommodates eight students.

II. Co ntextua l Inf o rma ti o n

a. Historical background

The United World Colleges form an international movement that aims to promote peace and
understanding through education. The colleges, which provide the final two years of
secondary education, are communities where young people live and study together and learn
about each other's cultures in order to gain a deeper understanding of common humanity. The
India College was founded in 1997 through the generous funding of the Mahindra and
Mahindra Group, one of the leading companies in India. The college aims at bringing world-
class education to worthy students from all over India and other parts of the world,
irrespective of their social, economic or religious status. The majority of the students are
awarded scholarships to enable then to attend.

Permission to build and open the college was granted by the Indian government's Cabinet
Committee on Political Affairs in 1993. In 1995, a 170-acre plot of land was obtained some
40 kilometres west of Pune and construction began in 1996. When the first phase of building
was just being completed, 100 pioneering students were admitted in September 1997. The
200 students attending the college come from more than fifty countries worldwide and
include successful candidates from North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the
Middle East, Australia and Asia, including India itself. Of the ten United World Colleges, six
have an enrolment of 200 students, one of 370, two of around 500 and one has over 2,000
students. The Mahindra United World College of India is dedicated to the memory of J C
Mahindra and K C Mahindra, founders of the Mahindra organization.

b. Lo cal a rc hite ct ural c hara cte r

Pune city today is several things rolled into one. There is a high-technology industrial milieu
and there are vestiges of a European colonial city, a land-based feudal empire and a

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Mahindra United World College, Pane, India