Top 25 teams such as Georgetown won the vast majority of awards

Which college Model UN teams are the best on the circuit? We devised a rankings system that answers this question in order to recognize the top teams on the college circuit for their accomplishments.

Please read the revised methodology article first before jumping into the rankings. We clarify in the article our purpose for doing rankings, our philosophy that drives what we value in the rankings, and improvements in our methodology. Please note that these rankings are for what our methodology describes as the World Division and does not capture results for all of college Model UN. We consider teams that won Outstanding Delegation at NMUN to be the best in the National Division. With that said, here is the World Division Top 25!

The Best College Model UN Teams: 2011-12 World Division Final Rankings Top 25 “Best Delegations”

The teams in the top 25 are not only the best teams in North America, but almost all of them have demonstrated at major international conferences that they are among the best teams in the world. These teams consistently capture the vast majority of the individual awards and oftentimes win or contend for delegation awards. Again, here is the methodology. Please note that the methodology uses the actual scores that teams achieved at each conference but for simplicity’s sake the narratives just mention if a team placed in the top-five or top-ten of a large or mid-sized conference.

Top 25 Analysis

A veteran delegate made a comment earlier this year that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to identify the legendary delegates on the circuit. This delegate’s reasoning is that college Model UN is no longer the tight-knit community — some would say elite community — that it once was just a few years ago. Model UN has democratized and become much more accessible to many more college students in the past five years primarily because the number of conferences has doubled in the same timespan. This year marked the fifth year for the first conferences in this current wave of expansion, and the five-year anniversary is significant because that’s when the founding class has graduated and the conference has matured into a regular part of the circuit’s schedule. Most of these are smaller crisis conferences which are advantageous for newer teams as they provide more manageable committee sizes and don’t set up committees with traditional power structures such as P5 country assignments. The one notable exception to the smaller crisis conference trend is UC Santa Barbara’s SBIMUN, which smartly played their connections across circuits to grow their conference to 300 delegates in only its second year, giving West Coast teams that previously had to fly across the country for a mid-sized conference a less expensive opportunity to participate in one and a boost to their ranking.

But for all the talk about accessibility and evening the playing field, the elite teams of the past few years are still the elite teams of today. The circuit now has many more conferences, and the big teams have kept pace by going to more of them. The top 25 teams won at an average of 5.32 conferences, and the number is even higher at the top-10 level as those teams won at an average of 6.3 conferences. Most delegates don’t attend all of those 5-6 conferences a year which means the best teams are now developing a large talent pool to draw from and can win regardless of how they mix and match their lineup. More significantly for rankings purposes, the elite teams still win almost all the awards at the all the conferences and especially so at the largest and most competitive conferences. The Pareto principle states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. This pretty much applies for the top 25 teams in college Model UN, as 80.62% of all weighted points available for the entire season were won by 21.55% of all teams that won awards (the top 25).

With so many teams winning awards, how do you statistically define best? If we measured for single best performance (sports analogy: picking a team for a one-game Super Bowl), then Yale would be at top with its dominating win at Harvard HNMUN. If we measured by best three scores at the most competitive conferences they participated in (sports analogy: picking the team with the best starters for a three-game playoff series), then our numbers would indicate a ranking of U.Chicago, Georgetown, Yale, U.Penn, FIU. If we measured an entire team by its performances at all conferences it attended (sports analogy: how a full team including starters and bench does in all games for an entire season), then this is what we have our rankings below. Notice that the top five are still the same but just in different order – we can debate who’s better among the top five depending on what you value in a ranking but they all belong.

Last but certainly not least, we want to thank all the conference organizers and head delegates for submitting the full awards data for all the conferences. The whole purpose of the rankings was to create positive publicity of results that will benefit all teams regardless of where they are ranked, and we’re glad that participants in the community have been supportive of this endeavor. Here are the 2011-2012 results:

The Top 25 (1-25)

1. Georgetown University

Georgetown is the number one team in the circuit this year after winning Best Large Delegation at the three most competitive conferences it participated in: U.Penn UPMUNC, McGill McMUN, and U.Chicago ChoMUN. Georgetown’s victory at McMUN was one of the most dominating performances of the season as it took home 40% of the gavels there plus other awards, and that score helped them keep pace with the teams that could attend and won at Harvard HNMUN. Although the rankings don’t use head-to-head results, it is notable that Georgetown owns the head-to-head victory in terms of weighted score over each of the top five teams in the most competitive conference where they faced off. Georgetown rounded out its resume with top-two finishes at every other conference it attended: Outstanding Large Delegation awards at Yale SCSY and Columbia CMUNNY, a second place at Virginia VICS, and Best Large Delegation at NYU NYUMUNC. To paraphrase a Georgetown delegate, they have now reclaimed their title as #1 in the circuit. The challenge next year will be different: will they be able to defend it?

2. University of Pennsylvania

U.Penn not only has a solid starting lineup but also perhaps the deepest team in the circuit. That depth allowed it to field different teams but consistently win at a circuit-high nine conferences – it placed in the top five at all nine of those conferences to outscore every team except for Georgetown this year. U.Penn’s achievements include placing third at Harvard HNMUN, winning Best Large Delegation awards at Yale SCSY and Boston University BarMUN, and winning Outstanding Large Delegation awards at Georgetown NCSC, U.Chicago ChoMUN, and NYU NYUMUNC. The team also placed third at Berkeley UCBMUN and Virginia VICS and put in a top-five performance at Columbia CMUNNY. The top-to-bottom consistency of its team should mean that U.Penn will be fielding a solid team for years to come.

3. University of Chicago

U.Chicago placed first or second all season like Georgetown and would actually come out on top over Georgetown if a ranking only took into account the three highest scores of each team.  U.Chicago won an Outstanding Large Delegation award at the two most competitive conferences on the circuit, Harvard HNMUN and U.Penn UPMUNC. In addition, it won Best Large Delegation at all the mid-sized conferences it attended: Georgetown NCSC, Columbia CMUNNY, and Berkeley UCBMUN. The team placed third in this ranking since it attended at least two fewer conferences than the two teams ranked above it and the ranking uses aggregate score. Nevertheless, U.Chicago put in a strong season and should be regarded as one of the best teams this year. U.Chicago fielded a younger team for their last conference of the year, UCBMUN, and was able to put on a dominant performance by winning over half the gavels there. This should foreshadow that U.Chicago will continue to be one of the best teams next year.

4. Yale University

Yale has the most elite starting lineup in the circuit and is a force to be reckoned with when they are at full-strength. Yale impressively won one-third of the gavels at Harvard HNMUN en route to defending its Best Large Delegation award. That’s double the number of gavels from last year’s Best Large Delegation squad, showing that this year’s Yale team was by far the best team at HNMUN. The quality of the team is also pronounced when they only bring a small delegation. Yale won Best Small Delegation at both U.Penn UPMUNC and Georgetown NCSC, and both times they were actually third overall and were able to keep up in terms of weighted score with the top two large delegations. Yale is no doubt a top team despite winning at the fewest number of conferences of any top-1o team. The team has responded to criticism that it doesn’t attend enough conferences by adding NCSC to its schedule this year, and it’s beginning to develop its depth too by sending a non-MUNTY squad to McGill McMUN where its delegates were able to get on the scoreboard. There’s no question that Yale will contend for a delegation award at every conference it attends. The question remains, will teams be seeing Yale even more often next year?

5. Florida International University

FIU has ascended into “P5” status not only in this ranking but at Harvard HNMUN where it was assigned a P5 nation. After a going through a steep learning curve at its first-ever crisis conference, Yale SCSY, FIU improved with a top-ten finish at Georgetown NCSC. It then shined at the two most competitive conferences on the circuit by placing 4th overall at both Harvard HNMUN and U.Penn UPMUNC, winning an Outstanding Small Delegation award at the latter. FIU then won Best Delegation at North Carolina UNCMUNC. Finally, it embarked on an epic and record 11 straight days of MUN where it won Best Delegation at West Point WPSC, an Outstanding Delegation at Nationals NMUN (the highest team award there; it’s not counted in this circuit’s rankings), and placed in the top-ten at U.Chicago ChoMUN. But perhaps more important than just winning awards, FIU has won the respect of its peers by displaying many of the same qualities during its rise that are characteristic of other top teams: hard work, humility, and integrity.

6. Harvard University

Despite fielding a young team, Harvard contended for a delegation award all Fall as it placed in the top five at U.Penn UPMUNC, Yale SCSY, and Columbia CMUNNY – it came the closest at CMUNNY where it finished third. Harvard also had a top-ten finish at Georgetown NCSC during the Fall. Perhaps taking a break to staff its winter conferences was the perfect way to spark the team because Harvard returned to the circuit with a splash. In the second half of the season, Harvard won Best Small Delegation at Berkeley UCBMUN, Outstanding Delegation at West Point WPSC, and finished third at U.Chicago ChoMUN. It looks like Harvard’s younger delegates have finally gained enough experience now and the team should be ready to try to contend for more delegation awards next year.

7. Claremont McKenna College

Claremont McKenna put on performances typical of top-five teams on the rapidly expanding West Coast circuit and was overall by far the best team from the West Coast this year. It took home over half the gavels at UC Santa Barbara SBIMUN to win Best Large Delegation and also won Best California Delegation at Berkeley UCBMUN and at UCLA LAMUN – both of the latter two were second place overall finishes. For any skeptics, Claremont McKenna can point to their Best Small Delegation award at Harvard WorldMUN this year (which was a top-five overall finish and second among North American teams) in addition to its win at UCBMUN where it placed only behind U.Chicago. Claremont McKenna also got on the scoreboard at U.Penn UPMUNC. Claremont McKenna’s rise shows that with dedicated training and balanced scheduling, a small liberal arts college can rise to national prominence in a circuit populated by much bigger universities.

8. United States Military Academy at West Point

West Point put in a solid season this year with a Best Small Delegation at McGill McMUN and an Outstanding Small Delegation at Georgetown NCSC. It also placed third overall at Yale SCSY where it fielded a rare large delegation, and had top ten overall finishes at Harvard HNMUN, Harvard WorldMUN, and U.Penn UPMUNC. The results at the latter three conferences are impressive given that they’re a small team competing at such large conferences. Qualitatively, one of West Point’s standout moments was when one of its delegates won Best Delegate at Harvard HNMUN and the rest of his committee clapped for him. It’s very rare to see teams celebrate the success of someone on another team, and that shows that West Point wins with class and is widely respected by its peers.

9. George Washington University

GW fielded a large team of primarily freshmen from their Colonial Cadets program and set up perhaps the toughest schedule on the circuit with attendance at all six of the biggest conferences. This relatively young team as able to hold its own though as it took home a pair of Best Small Delegation awards at Harvard HNMUN and Columbia CMUNNY, placed in the top-five at McGill McMUN and finished in the top-ten at U.Penn UPMUNC, U.Chicago ChoMUN, and Berkeley UCBMUN. GW also won awards at Harvard WorldMUN and participated at Georgetown NCSC. It will be interesting to see how sustainable the Colonial Cadets program is – have GW’s schedule burned out the freshmen or will they return to form the core of a budding powerhouse?

10. College of William & Mary

William & Mary is the highest ranked team to have not won a delegation award this year, but that just means it was consistently good at the conferences it attended. Similar to last year, W&M seems to perform better outside of the United States than within it as the team placed third overall at Harvard WorldMUN and McGill McMUN. The WorldMUN result was also the highest score among North American teams. But W&M does well in America too as it put in top-five performances at Yale SCSY and Columbia CMUNNY. Ironically, it won the fewest awards at Georgetown NCSC and Virginia VICS, the conferences that are geographically closest to the team. Nevertheless, all these results combined enabled William & Mary to break into the top ten. The high quality of the team also makes it a good time to launch their college conference for next year, &MUN.

11. Emory University

Emory continues to rise up the rankings and its best performance – placing fifth among North American teams and sixth overall at Harvard HNMUN – showed that it has potential to be a top-10 ranked team in the future. Emory also had top-ten finishes at U.Chicago ChoMUN, Georgetown NCSC, and Virginia VICS. Taking advantage of newer conferences in the South, Emory won an Outstanding Delegation at Duke DISCon and awards at North Carolina UNCMUNC. The team also won awards at Columbia CMUNNY. Emory has strong leadership in place that aims to improve its assignments and the quality of its delegates and will be a team to look out for in the future.

12. Columbia University

Columbia has one of the best small delegations on the circuit and they’re very active too with participation in eight conferences. Columbia claimed the Best Small Delegation award at Yale SCSY and the Outstanding Small Delegation award at U.Chicago ChoMUN. It also won awards at Harvard HNMUN, McGill McMUN, Georgetown NCSC (this was a top-ten finish), and NYU NYUMUNC. Finally, it also split its team on one weekend to capture awards at both West Point WPSC and Five College FCMUN. Participating in eight conferences and being able to split a team for a weekend — and winning in all of them — isn’t typical of small delegations and it’s a testament to both the quality and depth of the full Columbia team.

13. University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley started its season with a top-five finish at UC Santa Barbara SBIMUN. It was then one of two teams (the other being GWU) to embark on the grueling schedule of attending all five of the five biggest conferences. Berkeley was almost able to get on the scoreboard at all of them; the team won awards Harvard HNMUN, Harvard WorldMUN, U.Penn UPMUNC, and U.Chicago ChoMUN (this was a top-ten finish); it received verbal commendations at McGill McMUN. Better late than never though, Berkeley ended its season by winning Best Large Delegation at UCLA LAMUN to bump them up from the pack of teams with only individual awards.

14. Boston University

After starting its season with awards at Columbia CMUNNY, Boston University went through a tough stretch of the three most competitive conferences on the circuit where it placed in the top-ten at U.Penn UPMUNC and McGill McMUN and even got on the scoreboard at Harvard HNMUN despite prepping to host its high school conference in the same venue the following week. BU finally broke through in terms of team awards when it took home the Best Small Delegation award at U.Chicago ChoMUN to end its season on a high note.

15. Rutgers University

Rutgers had a strong Fall season. Its best performance of the year was at Georgetown NCSC where it tied with Yale for third place overall and this result shows the potential in the Rutgers team to compete with the best. Rutgers also had a rare showing at U.Penn UPMUNC due to the conference’s scheduling anomaly (normally it conflicts with Rutgers’ high school conference) and the team took advantage of the opportunity to put in a top-ten finish. Rutgers also won awards at Columbia CMUNNY in the Fall. The team then followed-up with a solid Spring, placing in the top-five at McGill McMUN and winning awards at U.Chicago ChoMUN, NYU NYUMUNC, and Five College FCMUN.

16. Cornell University

Cornell also had a tough schedule but it always managed to get on the scoreboard with awards at the three most competitive conferences: Harvard HNMUN, U.Penn UPMUNC, and McGill McMUN. The McMUN performance was in the top-five and it shows the quality and depth of the Cornell team to win at a big conference. Cornell also placed in the top-ten at U.Chicago ChoMUN and Yale SCSY, won awards at Georgetown NCSC, and won Best Small Delegation at Penn State PUNC. Overall, the program is on the rise and is beginning to build a deeper team beyond its top delegates.

17. University of Florida

Talk about a breakout performance: Florida was having a quiet season until it won almost half the gavels at VICS to win Best Large Delegation and surprise many other prominent teams. Normally winning a Best Large Delegation at a mid-sized conference isn’t necessarily a high enough score on its own to break into the top 25, but Florida dominated at that conference and at the very least owns more gavels than all the teams ranked below them do. The team complimented its second-half score with a top-ten finish at U.Chicago ChoMUN, and the two scores catapulted Florida into the top 25. The team is relatively young and the future should be bright for them.

18. New York University

NYU was solid throughout the season. Its best performance was across town when it fielded a top-five team at Columbia CMUNNY. NYU also had top-ten finishes at McGill McMUN and Georgetown NCSC as well as awards at West Point WPSC. One notable result left off the scoreboard was that NYU won the most verbal commendations at U.Penn UPMUNC, the most competitive conference they participated in this year. That suggests that they don’t quite have elite delegates yet, but they’re getting there. Given that this team is still considered to be among the newest on the circuit and their consistent performances at all the other conferences, NYU has already surpassed expectations and should only improve with time.

19. Tulane University

Tulane continues to be one of the best teams from the South as it won the Best Delegation award at Duke DISCon. But perhaps its best performance was at Berkeley UCBMUN where it placed in the top-five against stiffer competition. Tulane also won multiple awards at U.Penn UPMUNC and U.Chicago ChoMUN, showing that it can do well nationally. In fact, Tulane was the only team to have won awards in all of the different regions in the United States — Northeast, Midwest, West, and South — giving it some real national cachet.

20. Michigan State University

Michigan State started the season with awards at Columbia CMUNNY and at U.Penn UPMUNC. It wasn’t as strong of a performance as the team put in last Fall, and the leadership vowed to make a comeback during the second-half of the season. Michigan State fielded its usual full, large team at McGill McMUN and the team was able to deliver on that promise when it placed second overall at the conference behind only Georgetown. Finally, the team ended its season with a top-ten finish at U.Chicago ChoMUN. These results enabled Michigan State to climb back in the top 25 and back to the spotlight as one of the best teams from the Midwest.

21. University of California, Los Angeles

UCLA has a strong team when they are at full-strength as evidenced by their Outstanding Large Delegation at UC Santa Barbara SBIMUN. UCLA fielded smaller teams but still put in top-ten performances at McGill McMUN and Berkeley UCBMUN – they sent a smaller team than usual for the latter this year since they were staffing UNA-USA’s Global Classrooms LA the same weekend. UCLA also won awards at U.Chicago ChoMUN and participated at Georgetown NCSC. It will be interesting to see how UCLA, which may continue to bolster its travel schedule, balances traveling across the country with the busiest conference staffing schedule of any West Coast team.

22. Stanford University

Stanford has put increased efforts on training its team and it’s paying off. Outside of California, it was able to get on the scoreboard at U.Penn UPMUNC, McGill McMUN, U.Chicago ChoMUN, and Georgetown NCSC. Back home, it did better with a top-ten finish at Berkeley UCBMUN before the team finally broke through for a team award with a Best Small Delegation award at UCLA LAMUN. Unlike most West Coast teams, Stanford couldn’t benefit from the rise of the mid-sized SBIMUN since it hosted its high school conference on the same weekend, but its renewed focus on the travel team allowed it to make up their score at other conferences around the nation. Stanford’s team has a lot of potential to rapidly rise in the near future.

23. McGill University

McGill smartly scheduled a lineup of only mid-sized and small conferences this year as it was going through a rebuilding mode and the team did well. The team started off its Fall campaign with a top-ten finish at CMUNNY and also won awards at Georgetown NCSC. Last year the team fell out from the final rankings after being ranked in the Fall, so the goal was to maintain their solid Fall performance for the second half of this season. The McGill team exceeded those expectations as it took home a Best Small Delegation at Virginia VICS and complimented that win with awards at West Point WPSC. Could this be start of a return by McGill, one of the most-established programs on the circuit, to the top half of the rankings?

24. University of North Carolina, Charlotte

UNC Charlotte is technically out-of-circuit as it doesn’t participate in any of the domestic college-hosted conferences listed in the methodology, but it does get credit for participating in Harvard WorldMUN and UNC Charlotte won big there. The team tied with William & Mary for third overall and for the honors of being the top North American team at WorldMUN. That performance suggests that this team is probably much better than their rank here which is based on aggregate score. Although relatively unknown to most of this circuit, those who have participated at WorldMUN with them can confirm that they are a very good team.

25. University of Miami

Miami re-enters the top 25 with a solid second-half push. Miami showed potential early in the season with a top-ten finish at Columbia CMUNNY. The team then put on a strong performance to place in the top-ten among North American teams at Harvard HNMUN and also had a top-ten finish at U.Chicago ChoMUN. The trio of top-ten finishes shows that Miami is good, but it’s the HNMUN result that really distinguished this team from those ranked below them and helped create a natural cut-off in the scores to make this year’s rankings a true top 25.

**

Congratulations to all the teams! Also, check out the top 50, top 75, and top international delegations!

We are pleased to announce that priority registration for the 9^th annual Chicago International Model United Nations (CIMUN) is now officially open. CIMUN IX will be held December 6-9^th 2012 at the Fairmont Hotel in the heart of downtown Chicago. CIMUN is a groundbreaking educational political simulation for high school/secondary students hosted by the Model United Nations Development Organization (MUNDO), and is one of the largest independent Model UN conferences in the United States.

At the core of the CIMUN philosophy is a strong focus on realism and innovation, with our primary goal being the accurate portrayal of the challenges faced by real-life diplomats and politicians. All committees at CIMUN feature a fully-integrated crisis simulation, forcing delegates to think on their feet and work as a team between multiple committees to solve demanding international problems. The result is an unconventional conference that immerses students in a global context, and makes CIMUN a truly one of a kind Model UN experience.

What Makes CIMUN Unique:

• Fully Integrated Committees
  Students are able to work together across committees as national delegations.
• Interactive Crisis Simulations in All Committees
  Challenging scenarios and live updates keep delegates thinking on their feet.
• Diverse and Talented Staff
  Along with university students, our staff also includes graduates and professionals with real world experience.
• Extensive Use of Media and Technology (Check Out Our Videos)
  Highlights include a real-time news ticker, and even a student run TV news station. 
• Prime Location in Downtown Chicago
  Our AAA Four Diamond hotel is just minutes from many of the city’s top sights. 
• Complimentary Continuing Education Program for Faculty (New for 2012!)
  Fully Certified Program for Advisors to Earn Credit Towards Professional Recertification

This year, our conference will feature 20 innovative committees, most with 15 delegates or less, and a historical simulation set in 1950 that will place students in key decision-making roles during the formative days of the Cold War. Our unique simulation-driven model gives delegates in all committees the opportunity to make world-shaping decisions in real time, and requires them to think critically beyond the bounds of any one topic to best represent their national interests.

Please take the time to review our website, www.cimun.org, and feel free to contact us by email or by phone at 877-89-MUNDO for further information. Registration is now open, and early registration discounts are available. We appreciate your time, and hope to see you in December.

Universidad Simon Bolivar celebrates its win at Harvard HNMUN 2012

Which college Model UN teams are the best on the circuit? We devised a rankings system that answers this question in order to recognize the top teams on the college circuit for their accomplishments. We clarify in the article our purpose for doing rankings, our philosophy that drives what we value in the rankings, and improvements in our methodology.

There are three internationally prominent conferences that each draw over 2,000 delegates and feature teams from around the world: Harvard National HNMUN in Boston, Harvard WorldMUN which was hosted in Vancouver this year, and the two-part National NMUN conference in New York City. These three conferences are very different from each other in terms of philosophy, culture, and awards system, and most participants would not classify the three into one circuit. However, using our methodology for guidance, we can determine what some of the best teams in the world were for this season and we wanted to recognize them here. With that said, here are the Top International Delegations!

The Best College Model UN Teams: 2011-12 World Division Final Rankings Top International Delegations

Notes on the rankings and methodology

The three conferences are not part of a circuit, so we had to modify our methodology. Weighted scores derived from individual awards at HNMUN and WorldMUN and Best Delegate awards among Outstanding and Distinguished Delegations at NMUN were used to rank the teams. Full conference weightings were used, but we also gave disproportionate weighting to the team’s best result. Essentially, teams are ranked on their best performance and were given bonus points for winning at other conferences. This was done because it’s not common for teams to travel to more than one of these conferences. Please note that this ranking is for teams that participated at the three aforementioned conferences and does not capture the results of all international teams, especially those that did well within a local circuit (e.g. in Europe).

North American teams are excluded from this list. North American teams have two separate rankings (called World Division and National Division on this website) that take into account all the different conferences within the North American circuits and are ranked based on those cumulative results instead of their best single performance. However, it is safe to say that if we combined the lists for top performances, many of these schools here would place in the combined top 25 or top 50. Note that the term “international” used in this ranking refers to all schools outside of North America.

The Top International Delegations

South America and Europe continue to dominate the rankings. In South America, Venezuelan schools have always been a force on the circuit and this year is no different as they placed in four of the top ten spots. But Venezuela is starting to see some of its South American peers such as Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador rise up too. The conference organizers have taken note, with Harvard starting HNMUN Latin America and NMUN starting NMUN Latin America to meet the growing demand in the region.

The European Model UN hotbeds in the Netherlands and Belgium had been characterized by the highly successful combined national team model — United Netherlands and MUN Society Belgium are examples — in the past few years. But this year, we saw college-affiliated teams such as Utrecht in the Netherlands and VUB in Belgium step up too. Could this signal the beginning of a power shift from national teams back to college-affiliated teams? Besides the Netherlands and Belgium, other European countries that had multiple top teams include the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

Finally, it is notable that instead of one combined Australian Universities delegation, multiple college-affiliated universities in Australia won awards at conferences this year and a few of them broke into the top international delegations ranking. The upswing in the Australian college Model UN circuit is right on time as Harvard WorldMUN 2013 will be held in Melbourne.

The Top International Delegations

1. Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (Venezuela)

Católica won the Best Large Delegation at Harvard WorldMUN this year. The team also won a Distinguished Delegation at Nationals NMUN where it also notably had eight of its delegates voted as best delegate — that’s significantly more than many teams that won the higher-tier Outstanding Delegation award. Finally, Católica also won multiple awards at Harvard HNMUN to complete a rare trifecta of success. Catolica’s success at the diplomacy-oriented WorldMUN and its peer-voted best delegate results at NMUN suggests that Católica wins through cooperation and respect rather than aggression.

2. Universidad Simon Bolivar (Venezuela)

USB won Best International Delegation at what we considered as the most competitive conference in the world, Harvard HNMUN. That delegation award was fifth place overall behind only the highly-ranked American powerhouses: Yale University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and Florida International University. USB also won multiple awards at Harvard WorldMUN. Although they placed second in this ranking that uses cumulative scores, USB can claim that they beat top-ranked UCAB in their head-to-head matchup at HNMUN, the most competitive conference were they both participated.

3. MUN Society Belgium (Belgium)

MUN Society Belgium placed second overall at Harvard WorldMUN this year. But that second place was extremely close — they were only behind Católica by one Diplomacy Award and if this ranking didn’t use a cumulative score, they might be right behind the first-place finisher. MUN Society Belgium is the best team from Europe as it has also won Best Delegation at the largest European conference, London LIMUN.

4. Universidad Central de Venezuela (Venezuela)

UCV is consistently good and is among the best teams in the world as shown by their performances at National NMUN as well as Harvard HNMUN and Harvard WorldMUN. UCV won an Outstanding Delegation award at NMUN and finished tied for third place among international delegations at both conferences in terms of weighted score. It is notable that although UCV finished third in terms of weighted score among international delegations and top ten overall at HNMUN, they actually had the highest number of individual awards there among international delegations.

5. Peruvian Universities (Peru)

The rapidly rising Peruvian Universities delegation has already gained the respect of conference organizers as it got to represent a P5 country at Harvard HNMUN this year, and they put that assignment to good use by finishing second among all international delegations and top ten overall in terms of weighted score at that conference. PU also got on the scoreboard at Harvard WorldMUN.

6. Universidad del Rosario (Colombia)

Universidad del Rosario is another consistently good team as it finished tied for third place among international delegations at Harvard WorldMUN (this was tied for a top five finish among all teams) and had multiple awards at Harvard HNMUN.

7. United Netherlands (Netherlands)

The United Netherlands continued to build upon its storied legacy at Harvard HNMUN as it tied for third place among international delegations and within the top ten overall at that conference. UNL tied Metropolitana in terms of weighted score but we gave them the higher rank because they had more individual awards.

8. Universidad Metropolitana (Venezuela)

Metropolitana had high expectations after winning Best International Delegation at Harvard HNMUN last year, and they followed up with a strong performance this year by putting in a top-ten overall finish at the conference.

9. Utrecht University (Netherlands)

Utrecht showed significant improvement this year and they are quickly catching up to neighboring United Netherlands as they finished just one weighted point behind them (and Metropolitana) at Harvard HNMUN.

10. Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)

VUB is relatively new to the circuit and but has already made its name known after finishing among the top five international delegations at Harvard WorldMUN. This team should be even better as it gains more experience.

11. Lahore University of Management Sciences (Pakistan)

LUMS continues to be the best team from the Asia-Pacific region as it won multiple awards at Harvard WorldMUN this year. Their result put them slightly above the rest of the teams in this ranking.

12-25. (tied) Each of these teams had the same number of awards across all conferences, so it was more reasonable to tier them as the rest of the top 25 rather than rank them individually. The teams are:

• American University of Beirut (Lebanon)
• American University of Cairo (Egypt)
• ETH Zürich (Switzerland)
• Ghent University (Belgium)
• Queensland University of Technology (Australia)
• Royal Holloway University of London (United Kingdom)
• Sciences Po Paris (France)
• Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador)
• Universität Heidelberg (Germany)
• Universität St.Gallen (Switzerland)
  
• University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
• University of Exeter (United Kingdom)
• University of New South Wales (Australia)
• University of Oxford (United Kingdom)

Congratulations to all the teams!

This recap was provided by Nicholas R. Stewart

The first session of the Security Council

The last weekend of March, 26^th thru 31^st, Western Collegiate Model United Nations (WestMUN) Conference welcomed over 140 students to celebrate its twentieth anniversary at Santa Barbara City College in Southern California. The theme of the conference was “For a Better World.” This year the conference featured six committees; with some unique twists. The key topics dealt with were the continuous issue of Measures to Ensure the Safety and Security of Nuclear Installations, Weapons, and Materials and Right to Protect Endangered Populations Affected by Intrastate Conflict. But it was the newly highlighted topic dealing with the question of Eliminating Discrimination Based on Sexual Preference that embodies the topic of this year’s conference.

The Historic Security Council convened for the first time in WestMUN’s history and it was set in 1991. The delegates came prepared to discuss The Gulf War and the Escalating Iraq/Kuwait Conflict but were faced with an evolving crisis. The core of discussion revolved on preventing international intervention in the Middle East back in 1991. The committee had to construct a diplomatic solution to what would become the first Gulf War using only the knowledge that was available in 1991. As they worked toward that solution they were faced with the mobilizing of troops, an invasion, and the taking and killing of UN personal. Tension ran high as the United States vowed to act unilaterally if progress could not be made diplomatically. Ecuador and Austria among others maintained that a peaceful conclusion could be reached, but it seemed that all was lost after some French personal were taken hostage and later killed when troops seized the UN building in Kuwait. When the dust was settled the committee was able to create and pass resolutions that were diplomatic and averted war.

Delegates caucusing

On the other end of the hall, the Security Council was faced with a crisis involving Iran. During the second day of the conference the delegate of the United States received a classified memo stating, “Washington received word from operatives in the Saudi intelligence service, Al Mukhabarat Al A’amah, that the I.R.I.N. mobilized to blockade the Strait of Hormuz.”  With no further information available the conversation began. When the initial shock wore off and the delegates realized that the I.R.I.N. had not actually mobilized into the Strait of Hormuz they motioned to bring the representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Council for questioning. For ten minutes the Iranian delegate, pulled from the General Assembly, was brutally interrogated about his country’s actions in international waters, his Nuclear Program and his relations with Israel.

Delegates strategized, formed alliances, compromised and diplomatically drafted a total of thirty-five resolutions during the three-day conference. Competition is not the primary focus of WestMUN; instead we provide a forum for students to come together, practice diplomacy and public speaking and formulate responses to current, important international problems.

Delegates debating in the World Health Organization

Opening Ceremonies at WestMUN

This guest post has been provided by Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg, AENU Perú Founding Member and Former PU Chief Advisor.

A group photo of the delegation from Peruvian University at HNMUN

Peru is experiencing a MUN boom. What was once an obscure acronym known only to a lucky few is now gaining ever-growing popularity among Peruvian high-school and college students. And spearheading this boom is Peruvian Universities (PU), the largest and most successful Peruvian delegation in the global MUN circuit. Having won a Diplomacy Award at WorldMUN -this being our first year attending the conference- as well as 4 awards in HNMUN -including Peru’s first Best Delegate award ever- Peruvian Universities has become a force to be reckoned among its more established South American peers. Given this year’s exceptional results, we believe it is time to share PU’s history with the wider MUN community.

PU’s story began in 2010 when members of the then University of Lima Delegation, despite increasing success at HNMUN, faced considerable economic hardships. In order to quench their financing needs, these students decided to exscind from their own University to create a stand-alone team, benefiting from the financial freedom that came with institutional independence. Thus they incorporated the Peruvian Association for the Study of the United Nations (or AENU Peru, for its Spanish acronym), a non-for-profit NGO charged with the task of promoting MUN in Peru and creating Peru’s first “National Delegation”, using past experience to select the finest delegates from Peru’s finest universities. This National Delegation was called Peruvian Universities, which currently includes delegates from four top colleges (namely, University of Lima, University of the Pacific, Pontific Catholic University and San Ignacio University).

Best Delegate winners at HNMUN

Two years later, PU’s record includes a place in Best Delegate’s Top 10 International MUN Teams of 2011 and a total of 5 awards in 2012 (barely losing to Simon Bolivar University the title of HNMUN Best International Delegation).

PU’s good results in HNMUN are the result of a very demanding training process that lasts from 6 to 8 months, and is in charge of PU’s alumni -many of them successful professionals- who dedicate themselves to the project’s long-term sustainability. This way, PU’s delegates are given extensive training on International Politics, International Law, History and Geography. Training also includes debate skills development and specific advisory on each committee’s topics.

But PU and its parent association AENU Peru, believe that MUN is so much more than just a conference. We believe that MUN is an asset that can be of much help to an emerging nation such as Peru. Through MUN, PU and AENU aim at creating the kind of committed leadership a nation needs in its road to development. Therefore, as part of its overall objectives, and parallel to our MUN delegation, AENU has several additional projects currently underway.

An award winner from Peruvian University

Through the “Acción AENU” Program, we join the challenge of reaching the Millennium Development Goals, centering our aim in achieving universal primary education. We believe that this goal entails life-skills education through the implementation of workshops for the development of socio-cognitive skills, to children and adolescents living in vulnerable conditions. Currently, we are undertaking this project in collaboration with a Peruvian orphanage called Aldeas Infantiles (“Child Villages” in Spanish). We believe in the importance of volunteer work and strive to offer both a fulfilling personal experience to our collaborators as well as the opportunity to be a true agent of change.

In addition to our volunteer work, however, through our Academic Program, AENU Peru offers MUN-related services to colleges and student associations in Peru’s Capital, promoting the skills and knowledge that come with MUN preparation among the general non-MUN-related public. This initiative has created a very active collaboration with the University of the Pacific, which, seeing the value that MUN can incorporate in the skills of its students, agreed to launch the first ever Peruvian College Course on “Debate and Negotiation Skills through Model United Nations”. In this Course, PU senior members share their knowledge with university students and promote MUN values with Peru’s youth. Also, PU advisors helped organize the first ever Model United Nations held in the University of the Pacific, called UPMUN.

The Delegation from Peruvian University at WorldMUN

Finally -and most recently- AENU Peru is preparing to launch a special program called “Opinión AENU” aimed at the creation of knowledge and awareness on national and international issues. Through this initiative we mean to create a wide array of forums, both through social media and through the organization of colloquiums and public debates, where Peru’s youth will be able to express its point of view and participate in the Nation’s marketplace of ideas. With AENU’s assistance, college students will be able to find like-minded peers with whom to set their plans in practice and help their country on the way to prosperity.

With such a busy schedule, PU and AENU Peru have great plans for next year, including setting up a MUN Conference of our own. We are confident that with perseverance and effort we will be able to bring a Best International Delegation Award to Peru for the first time. We are aware of the challenge that lies ahead, and could not be more excited!

* If you would like to learn more about PU or AENU Peru’s activities, please visit http://www.aenuperu.org, our Facebook page or contact us at mun@aenuperu.org

A delegate with her award

Delegates posing with their awards

The Peruvian University delegation at WorldMUN

Award winners at HNMUN

This guest post has been provided by Dr. Eugene Geis and Anthony White, advisors of the  John P. Stevens High School Model United Nations program. 

J.P. Stevens delegates are taught how to be socially intelligent through Model UN

When I was in my twenties, I realized that I needed to be more confident with and aware of the people I interacted with on a daily basis. I was tired of the feeling of being unsure about myself. I could never tell whether I was respected and liked, especially by the opposite sex either. When I moved home after graduate school, I made a very serious decision to transform these fears into traits of confidence.

I made a conscious effort to make new friends wherever I went. I started conversations with random strangers and learned to have meaningful communication with anyone, anytime. I changed some aspects of my body language and my speaking style, and I discovered that everyone else responded to me more. I could tell that the small, subtle changes I made to my methods of communication had a profound impact on the respect and admiration that people were suddenly showing me.

When I arrived at JP Stevens high school, a fellow alumnus from my own high school had invited me to advise the Model UN program with him. When I chaperoned my first trip to VAMUN, I had an epiphany while witnessing my first committee. Every skill that I learned in my personal transformation was being exercised (most of the time, very poorly) by the students parrying for position within the committee. I started giving advice very quickly because very small changes can make an enormous difference in a delegate’s game.

When the weekend was over, I made a promise to myself that I would teach one full lesson on body language to the entire 100 delegate club at JP Stevens. That was four years ago. The incoming freshman class who attended that body language lecture is now the senior class and they have completely dominated the east coast circuit this year. Again, although we are winning awards, that is not our purpose. We teach our club how to feel successful. This self investment of the delegate automatically feeds their motivation to be better. They research harder, they hold their own strategy meetings, and they operate like a true nation, pushing for its voice to be heard. THIS IS MODEL UN. And this is why I think it is the most practical school activity in the liberal arts. Let’s face it, no club can compete with FIRST Robotics when it comes to the STEM education module.

In the interest of public education and full disclosure (because I really don’t want you to think that we are all about awards), I want to share what we teach. Do with it whatever thou wilt. Best Delegate seems like a great forum to demonstrate it (and we’ll probably write a book about it one day) and so I would like to give to you a little bit of the framework we teach the club. We call it “MUN-E” [Model UN Education]. I have developed a few quick rules that will help any delegate learn our philosophy of Success. And I want to stress: This is NOT JUST IN MUN, but in LIFE as a Whole. 

1. People need to RESPECT you before they will listen to you.
2. People need to LIKE you before they will do as you ask of them.
3. People need to KNOW that you have the respect and kindness to listen to them BEFORE they will Like and Respect you.

You may have heard this before and you may even know it… but do you, as a delegate AND as a person, practice these things? There is a strange habit among the Model UN advisors and student-teachers. The first lesson that most MUNers and their advisors tend to administer is to create a debate within the historical context of current events and political feuds. While we understand this preference, we think that this method skips over most of THE MOST IMPORTANT SKILLS.

When you practice the 3 rules we’ve just listed along with a few other things that are too much to write in a small internet post, you will become more confident, you will speak better, and debate will become a welcome challenge.

Listen, we’re not messing around. Our Model UN club only meets once a week for about one hour each time… and yet we have one of the best Model UN programs …and it’s maintained its reputation for more than 40 years. Our focus is not based on awards, but if the measure of skill is commensurate to awards, we’re one of the best.

WE TEACH SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE. You can also call it “Human Engineering” if ya wanna be all scientific about it… And for the real scientists in you, I’ve made a 2D graph titled:

The Success Spectrum is the fountain from which we believe all GAVELS spring. Use the brief descriptions above as an introduction to the raw power of Social Intelligence in the Model UNiverse.  Please note that our axes are defined by “Social Intelligence” and “Academic Intelligence.”

Let’s take a look at Academic Intelligence first. Academic Intelligence is what people call “book smarts.”  You know the smartest kid in your math or science class? Well that kid is probably really good at doing her homework, understanding the teacher, and doing multiplication in her head.  But is she “cool?” Academic Intelligence is not specific to any subject… it’s pretty much what we all think of as “smart.” We know you know this already: “smarts” do not win you as many friends as “coolness.” And in Model UN, you need to have something we’ll call smart coolness. This is called Social Intelligence.

We approach MUN skills from the angle of Social Intelligence. The more seriously you approach the practice of social skills, the more often you will notice that it is easier to speak to everyone you know. Interviewing will become effortless, negotiating will become a smoother process, and arguing will not feel as stressful as it used to. Instead, you’ll see all of these situations as opportunities to shine. In committee, order will be restored from chaos… and you will be the harbinger of mutual prosperity. You will be seen as The Diplomat. You will command respect in a room of hundreds and the chairperson will see you as a contributor to the well-being of all sentient beings. We’re writing a book that starts with these social skills techniques so that MUN delegates can learn the same skills that we teach to our delegates. It’s called “MUN-E” and we’ll let our friends at Best Delegate know when it’s available.

Teams in the top 50 consistently have multiple award winners at the conferences they attend. SUNY Geneseo is pictured here.

Which college Model UN teams are the best on the circuit? We devised a rankings system that answers this question in order to recognize the top teams on the college circuit for their accomplishments.

Please read the revised methodology article first before jumping into the rankings. We clarify in the article our purpose for doing rankings, our philosophy that drives what we value in the rankings, and improvements in our methodology. Please note that these rankings are for what our methodology describes as the World Division and does not capture results for all of college Model UN. We consider teams that won Outstanding Delegation at NMUN to be the best in the National Division. With that said, here is the World Division Top 50!

The Best College Model UN Teams: 2011-12 World Division Final Rankings Top 50 “Outstanding Delegations”

These teams have consistently had individual award winners at most of the conferences they have attended. This includes awards at some of the most competitive conferences, and a few of the teams have even won delegation awards at smaller conferences. Overall, you can count on these teams to consistently have a few delegates that can contend for a gavel at a conference and for the rest of the team to put in a solid performance.

Although there is some separation in the scores at the top half of the top 50, the differences are still relatively marginal compared to the scores seen in the top 25. Therefore, we decided to tier the entire top 50 instead of ranking them by individual places. Note that there are actually teams ranked through #51 since there was a tie for 50th place. Again, here is the methodology.

The Top 50 (26-50)

• Boston College
• Brown University
• Carleton University
• Clark University
• Colgate University
• Concordia University
• Duke University
• Florida State University
• George Mason University
• Marianopolis College
• Mount Holyoke College
• Pennsylvania State University
• Pitzer College
• Portland State University
• Princeton University
• Queen’s University
• Santa Fe College
• State University of New York, Geneseo
• Université de Montréal
• University of Delaware
• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Southern California
• University of Texas at Austin
• Vanderbilt University
• Victor Valley College

Congratulations to all the teams! Also, check out the top 75!

Which college Model UN teams are the best on the circuit? We devised a rankings system that answers this question in order to recognize the top teams on the college circuit for their accomplishments.

Please read the revised methodology article first before jumping into the rankings. We clarify in the article our purpose for doing rankings, our philosophy that drives what we value in the rankings, and improvements in our methodology. Please note that these rankings are for what our methodology describes as the World Division and does not capture results for all of college Model UN. We consider teams that won Outstanding Delegation at NMUN to be the best in the National Division. With that said, here is the World Division Top 75!

The Best College Model UN Teams: 2011-12 World Division Final Rankings Top 75 “Honorable Mention”

There were over a 100 teams that won individual awards at World Division conferences this year. The top 75 is separated itself from the rest by winning those individual awards at the more competitive conferences. There are only marginal differences between the teams’ scores so we decided to tier the entire top 52-75 instead of ranking them by individual places (it starts at #52 because there’s a tie between two schools for 50th place). Again, here is the methodology.

The Top 75 (52-75)

• American University
• Arcadia University
• California State University, Northridge
• Carleton College
• Clemson University
• Elon University
• Gettysburg College
• Gordon College
• HEC Montreal
• Ithaca College
• John Abbott College
• Kutztown University
• Middlebury College
• St. Mary’s College of Maryland
• Tufts University
• United States Naval Academy
• University of Calgary
• University of California, Santa Barbara
• University of California, Santa Cruz
• University of Georgia
• University of Maryland, College Park
• University of Virginia
• Washington University in St. Louis
• Wilfred Laurier University

Congratulations to all the teams!

This recap has been provided by Andrew Odom, staffer at LAMUN.

LAMUN delegates in action

LAMUN VII was an exciting conference hosted at the Sheraton in Downtown Los Angeles.  Secretary General Chris Janney hosted a crisis based conference with a mix of Historical and Modern Crises including the Kurdish Insurgency within Turkey, the Russian Revolution, a dual crisis, Carthage vs. Rome in the Second Punic Wars, and Star Wars: Forging the New Republic picking up at the end of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

The unique crises created an environment that resulted in active interaction between delegates and crisis teams, as well as effective crisis response. Delegates enjoyed being in the center of America’s second largest city, in close proximity to Los Angeles’ most famous sites. By attracting out of state schools such as the University of Washington and University of Indonesia, LAMUN is growing to be a major end-of-the-year conference on the MUN circuit.

Mexican Cabinet voting on a directive concerning corruption in the Mexican Government in the Mexican Drug Wars

This photo demonstrates an innovative crisis element introduced by the crisis director of the committee. Every time a directive was passed that hurt the unity of the Turkish Republic, a piece was taken out of jenga. Once the Jenga tower toppled, it signified the beginning of civil war.

This photos shows the map of troop locations and movements of the various armies of Carthage and Rome

Awards:

University of California, Berkeley won Best Large Delegation and Claremont McKenna College won Best California Delegation (second place overall). Stanford University took home the Best Small Delegation. Other schools that had multiple award winners include the University of Southern California; University of California, Santa Barbara; Northern Arizona University, and Pasadena City College.

VAMUN XXXII at the University of Virginia will welcome high school delegates into a rich tradition of challenging but extremely fun committees. VAMUN XXXII will be held from November 2 to 4, 2012. With a vast range of committees to choose from, the most experienced delegate and the first time high school student will find a setting in which they will be constantly challenged and grow as Model UN representatives. Our committees this year include the Organization of American States, SPECPOL, and the British House of Commons! The large number of attendees at our conference also helps to promote a sense of camaraderie and many delegates have walked out of our conference having made great friends. Furthermore, Charlottesville offers some of the best restaurants in the nation and important historical landmarks. VAMUN also offers historical and admissions tours to give students a taste of life at a highly ranked university with a thriving student community. We hope to see you here on November 2, so register today! Please feel free to contact our SG, Elsa Schultze, or our USG for Delegations, Kate Travis, with any questions.