On March 3, Human Ecology’s Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA) organized and acted as one of 16 international host sites for the 2018 NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Competition. The program is an experiential learning opportunity for graduate students in public administration.

The competition calls for students to gather at university sites around the globe on one of two given dates and compete in a one-day immersive simulation of a public policy challenge. This year, the topic was a pandemic. The Cornell site hosted 31 public policy students from a higher education programs in the northeastern United States.

During the simulation, students played roles that public administration leaders would have to fill should there be an outbreak of a deadly infectious disease. Students worked within the confines of governing bodies to reassess the rules and institutions that govern health policy, public safety, economics, and leadership at the subnational, national, regional, and global levels.

“Competitions like this one take students out of the classroom and pit them against students from other top schools,” said CIPA lecturer Rebecca Brenner, who oversaw the logistics for the Cornell simulation site. “They are pushed to their limits, as they will be in real life, with the intensity of the challenge driving new ideas and innovation.”

“They learn things they cannot in the classroom such as how to build traction and consensus for an idea,” she said. “This is practice for the real-world competition that awaits them in their careers, as they work to implement change for a more sustainable global community.”
NASPAA – the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration – is the membership organization of graduate education programs in public policy, public affairs, public administration, and public and nonprofit management. The organization sponsors competitions to support public service education and training.

“It’s an honor to host a competition like this one,” said CIPA Executive Director, Thomas O’Toole. “I also want to express my sincere thanks to Rebecca for submitting a strong proposal to NASPAA.”