Student involvement should be strongly emphasized in all stages of the course. The simulation program achieves numerous and diverse learning objectives. It promotes student understanding of the integration processes currently transforming Europe and creates a greater appreciation of cultural diversity. Participants acquire skills that are essential to professional success, including public speaking, expository writing, the use of logic and reasoning, group negotiations, and problem solving. More specifically, students are introduced to the art of diplomacy, recreate dynamic and complex political processes, and personally experience behavioral and institutional constraints confronting EU actors.
Students have personal stakes in the outcome of the simulation.
They discuss the subject matter outside the normal structure of the simulation, during breaks, in the hallways, at breakfast, and in the evening. They lobby, build coalitions, and work on details as they draft policy. As they break out of the traditional classroom format, they experience the feeling of leadership, speak out, set the agenda, and present arguments, not to a professor, but to their peers. They also get frustrated, tired, and find the work at times tedious. Still they enjoy it overall, as they push determinedly through each step of the simulation.