"What was most valuable was the opportunity to meet people from so many countries," commented Fabian Steuer (Mundus MAPP '17). Steuer met students from Sciences Po, University of Bergen, the American University in Cairo (AUC) – and also Hanh Nguyen (MPA '17) from the School of Public Policy at CEU! "It's true," said Steuer. "We have both been SPP students since the fall, but we met in Maastricht." They and Shreya Bhattacharya (MPA '16) were the three students selected by NASPAA to compete in the NASPAA 2016 Student Simulation Competition in Maastricht on February 27.
Worldwide, almost 400 students from 135 universities gathered at eight regional sites to participate in NASPAA Student Simulation Competitions. The focus of this year's competition was climate change. One of the attractions of the NASPAA competitions is the opportunity to use the EnROADS simulation software. The SPP students agreed that it was an interesting tool, and might be even more useful if it were used during a term-long course in which students would be able to gain more knowledge about a particular topic before they used it. "The way we used it during the competition," explained Nguyen, "is that we plugged in numbers, and then came up with a policy."
The students who met in Maastricht were divided into two teams that competed against each other to develop a plan to limit global warming using EnROADS. Nguyen and Bhattacharya were on the winning 18-person team. Reflecting on the experience, Bhattacharya said, "I was one of the people in Maastricht who did not have much of an idea about climate change. Participating in this exercise made me realize that it is not as simple as limiting temperature rise or controlling fossil fuels. You need to consider stakeholders, GDP growth, population, agriculture, land use, taxation systems, energy efficiency, and lots of other things too," she said. "I now have a greater appreciation of how complex the issue is."
Nguyen, however, came away from the competition a bit frustrated that she could not engage more deeply with the topic. "I am particularly interested in climate change and have studied it quite a bit. I was hoping that this would be a chance to learn more about it," she said. Steuer agreed that there was not much time to get very deeply into the topic. "We were pretty rushed trying to get everything done in just one day."
Despite some frustrations, the SPP students were enthusiastic about the experience and thought many of their classmates would have found it useful to take part in the student competition as well. "It was one of the best opportunities that SPP has provided to me," said Bhattacharya.
"One of the reasons why SPP was eager to become a member of NASPAA," explained Dean Wolfgang Reinicke, "was so that our students and staff could benefit from and contribute to programs such as this." SPP Career Services and Alumni Relations Coordinator Marija Stojanovska Rupcic, who also traveled to Maastrict commented, "This competition that attracted students from throughout Europe and the Middle East was a great opportunity for our students – to connect with other students, and to gain some familiarity with a new and interesting software tool."