2019 Global Winners

NASPAA and the Batten School Announce Global Winner of the 2019 Student Simulation Competition

This year, nearly 600 students from 147 universities in 27 countries took part in the NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Competition. Participants competed at 11 global host sites from Dhaka and Cairo to Mexico City and San Francisco. Developed by experts at the University of Virginia’s Center for Leadership Simulation and Gaming, this year’s simulation, Host Nations, was built using real-world data and challenged students to work together to manage a migrant influx in a fast-paced environment.

Judges at each site selected 13 winners from the 116 competing teams based on simulation scores, negotiation skills, and policy presentations. From these finalists, a panel of four prominent global experts recently has identified the Global Winners of this year’s competition.

Congratulations to all the students who participated in the competition, and to the top three teams listed below! This is an outstanding accomplishment!

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES FOR PRODUCING THE 2019 NASPAA-BATTEN SIMULATION COMPETITION CHAMPIONS!

Team Members: Nicholas Valla (Villanova University), Morgana Falabella (Villanova University), Tolulope Omadara (Villanova University), Tyler Walls (Villanova University), Fatima Rezaei (Villanova University)

SECOND PLACE

THE UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY — MERIT & THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY AT CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY (BUDAPEST, HUNGARY) COMPETITION SITE

Team Members: Philip Seijger (Delft University of Technology), Irene van Droffelaar (Delft University of Technology), Laura Crowley (Delft University of Technology), Erik Pronk (Delft University of Technology, Jason Wang (Delft University of Technology)

 

THIRD PLACE

THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO SCHOOL OF GLOBAL AFFAIRS AND PUBLIC POLICY COMPETITION SITE

Team Members: Ridhi Varma (Institute of Public Policy at the National Law School of India University), Swathi Krishnamoorthy (Institute of Public Policy at the National Law School of India University), Kshitj Singh (Institute of Public Policy at the National Law School of India University), Misha Singh (Institute of Public Policy at the National Law School of India University), Sandip Sahoo (Institute of Public Policy at the National Law School of India University)

 

THANK YOU NB SIM GLOBAL JUDGES!

 

This year’s global judges thoroughly reviewed the final presentations, policy memos, and video presentations of the 13 site winning teams. They assessed teams’ critical reasoning skills, creativity, use of data, organization, and application of a public service perspective to decision making. The global judges, who reviewed the final presentations and memos completely blind, were extremely impressed with all the teams who made it to the top round. The competition was very close.

However, what made the top team stand out was its unique applicability of a public service perspective to policy and decision making. This team devised an exceptional communications strategy, campaign messaging, and focused on the humanitarian nature of the refugee crisis. Well done!