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Núria Ripoll
The 11th edition of URJCmun will be held from February 7 to 10, 2023 on the Móstoles campus of the Rey Juan Carlos University. Organized by and for students, this project was born in 2013 and, since 2020, it is the largest Model United Nations in Europe.
A Model United Nations is a simulation of the international organization in which the participants, “delegates”, debate current international issues. Each one represents a State and must defend its position. On this occasion, URJCmun has 17 different committees, both in Spanish and English, in which participants will discuss issues ranging from artificial intelligence to child malnutrition, including topics such as the conservation of cultural heritage, the ethics of engineering genetics or the prevention of terrorism.
“With more than ten years of history, sometimes it seems difficult to propose something radically different; however, we do work thinking that each edition is unique, and this is no exception. We are especially excited to return to such characteristic events of the pre-pandemic URJCmun as the Global Village or the face-to-face opening ceremony. We believe that this will make them take the full URJCmun experience with them. Really, like every year, we hope to change the university experience of the participants and open up a world of opportunities, expectations and friendships for them” explains Alessandra Pereira, general secretary of URJCmun 2023.
Students can also attend as part of the Press or Staff team. The first is in charge of giving media coverage to the event, simulating a real communication office. The second is responsible for the logistics of the event and assistance to the participants. In any of the cases, URJCmun has been key in the training and acquisition of experiences of many students in recent years.
“Both delegations and Chairs will get fully involved in the operation of the different United Nations committees: they will debate, negotiate and follow the processes that the organization follows to reach agreements on the most important global issues. It is an ideal opportunity not only to broaden knowledge regarding the topics assigned to each committee, but also to go beyond what has been learned in class, connect with people with common interests and discover everything that university life offers” explains Pereira.
“We also have to point out that we have a great Staff team and a Press team: for them, this also means putting into practice what we deal with so much in class. And it is a very good opportunity: whether from event management or from the field of communication, working in a conference that brings together around a thousand people contributes a lot. We are convinced that this has an impact on the career of all the participants, wherever they come from” the general secretary ends.
URJCmun was born in 2013 and today has a thousand annual participants. Organized by students and for students, it has not stopped growing, having welcomed delegations from the United States, Venezuela, France and Switzerland that have traveled from their universities to attend the conference. COVID-19 not only did not stop the organization of the event, which was able to adapt to the sanitary restrictions, but also served to consolidate the event as the largest MUN in Europe. Last year, during its tenth anniversary, it managed to maintain the same numbers. In 2023, it does not expect to be less.