International Academic Competitions:
Our Mission and Vision for Model UN
Sustain a New Worldwide Network of Competitions
Create an Accessible Regional and Intramural Conference Format Structure
Launch Championship Level Conferences
Offer New Opportunities for Middle School and Elementary School Students
IAC Model UN
Our Vision
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IAC firmly believes that Model United Nations provides a unique and transformative forum for students to grow their debating, public speaking, writing, and negotiating skills while learning about geopolitics and world affairs from an empathetic perspective.
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For us, and for hundreds of thousands of students who take part in Model UN conferences worldwide each year, the value of Model United Nations as an enriching academic competition is clear.
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But Model United Nations already has a very active community worldwide. How then does IAC see its role in serving delegates, their schools, and their families who are currently active in Model United Nations or who may be eager to become so?
To answer that question, IAC sees its mission and vision for Model United Nations as follows:
Objective 1
Sustaining a New Worldwide Network of Model UN Competitions
- IAC is a pre-existing academic competition organizer, with a worldwide network and logistical infrastructure that can support the vision outlined here.
IAC is eager to provide Model UN opportunities to the tens of thousands of students that already take part in its competitions each school year – and to introduce the worldwide Model UN community to IAC’s other competitions, such as the International History Olympiad and the International Geography Championships.
Objective 2
An Accessible Regional and Intramural Conference Format Structure
01
Our conferences are specifically designed to be accessible to students who are new to Model UN. Our staff are trained to be welcoming and to help students feel comfortable and at ease in committee.
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Single-day Regional Conferences run by IAC staff, but hosted by schools, offer a way for conferences to be established quickly in new cities and countries.
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Intramural Conferences offer schools who are new to Model UN a way to get their students involved in an accessible and affordable way.
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The format offers a chance both to participate in a standard-style committee and a crisis-style committee on the same day.
Objective 3
Launching Championship Level Conferences
- IAC’s National, Regional, and World Championship competitions for Model United Nations fill a longstanding need for Model United Nations to have championship level conferences that enhance its prestige and development as an academic competition.
- Championship level conferences will require prior qualification and be designed in a way that allows for a single delegate to be clearly and fairly crowned as a champion within their age divisions.
Objective 4
Offering New Opportunities for Middle School and Elementary School Students
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IAC is focusing primarily at present on developing new conferences for middle and elementary school students.
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Few conferences worldwide are open to students ages 9-14, and even fewer are designed specifically with them and their unique perspectives in mind.
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We are eager to expand and develop a format for Model UN that already has worked well for hundreds of elementary and middle school students.
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This will result ultimately in more students becoming more active in Model UN at a younger age, giving them more time to develop their skills across years of conferences.
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Students are grouped in committee and earn awards in a clear and systematic way across multiple age divisions.