The University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and NASPAA announced a five-year affiliation agreement to partner in the Student Simulation Competition. This collaboration will allow the Batten School and NASPAA to develop and operate a world-class quality competition. The agreement was signed recently in Washington, D.C. by the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy Dean, Allan C. Stam and NASPAA Executive Director, Laurel McFarland. The Simulation Competition will be named “The NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Competition” and will take place in eight regional host sites across the globe annually each February.

“The UVA Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy is delighted to be partnering with NASPAA on the international Student Simulation Competition. We believe that computer-assisted models and simulations are the way forward for schools of public affairs, public administration and public policy in the 21st century. Students gain valuable leadership experience in these simulations which prepare them for the challenges of the modern world,” said Dean Stam.

The additional outcomes of this competition include opportunities to showcase MPA/MPP students’ skills and abilities for the public, prospective students and employers, while bringing awareness to excellence in public service education at public policy schools. In addition, the partnership will popularize simulations for use in public policy school educational pedagogy and demonstrate the value of the simulation platform as a vehicle to advance system thinking about public policy/management problems.

“This affiliation reinforces NASPAA’s commitment to quality in public policy education through the alignment of the Simulation Competitions with NASPAA’s universal competencies and public service values, and demonstrates the tremendous learning opportunities gained by using simulations to immerse students in scenarios where they are able to immediately see the complexities and systemic aspects of public policy and management challenges,” said McFarland.

Furthermore, this will provide an opportunity for MPA/MPP students to rapidly perceive the complexity of public policy problems, to experience unintended consequences of actions and to see intergenerational impacts of public policy decisions in order to gain a greater appreciation of the systemic effects of their actions. This will also provide an opportunity for MPA/MPP student engagement with public policy problems of global interest.

The Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy was founded in 2007 and seeks to develop leaders and generate new knowledge to solve the world’s toughest public policy challenges. NASPAA, the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration, is the global standard in public service education with a two-fold mission to ensure excellence in education and training for public service and to promote the ideal of public service.