History of the WorldMUN Initiative
in Heidelberg
About six years ago, a group of 3 law students decided to participate
in WorldMUN 1999 in Cambridge (UK) (>link)
for the first time. Since then, the University of Heidelberg has
been annually represented by a student delegation at the Harvard
World Model United Nations Conference.
Subsequent to the participation in Cambridge this
group founded an interdisciplinary study group in autumn 1999. The
primary aim was to recruit more capable delegates. The delegation
of the year 2000 was selected after a demanding application test.
In particular social, academic and linguistic competence were required.
The new delegation consisted of four law students as well as two
representatives of economics and one of medicine. The WorldMUN Conference
was held in Athens (Greece). Here, the Delegation of the University
of Heidelberg was able to prove its worth. Two delegates were awarded
with “Verbal Recommendations”.
The ESCAP-Committee at WorldMUN Istanbul 2001
(>link)
In the meantime the delegation is one of the best
known and renowned at the conference. In 2001, the delegation participated
with 12 delegates from six different faculties (Jurisprudence, Economics,
Psychology, Medicine, Educational Theory and History). Thus prepared,
the delegation was one of the most successful at the 2001 conference
in Istanbul (Turkey). It managed to make a convincing impression
with its interdisciplinary combination.
Istanbul - the Hagia Sophia at night (>link:more
pictures- balsoy.com)
In fact, five out of the 12 delegates were awarded
with the highest rated awards (four “Honourable-Delegate-Awards”
and one “Award for Diplomacy”). Due to this, the 2001
delegation was ranked the second non-English-speaking university
team. Again, at the 2002 WorldMUN Conference in Belo Horizonte (Brazil),
the Heidelberg Delegation was able to keep up its high standard
and win three Honorable Delegate Awards (> WorldMUN
2002 Info). For the first time, Heidelberg's Delegation
has been assigned a UN Security Council's permanent meber ("P5"),
the United Kingdom.
In 2003, the Heidelberg WorldMUN initiative was proud
to host the Harvard WorldMUN 2003 conference (>
WorldMUN 2003 Info).
Almost 900 delegates had a wonderful time in Heidelberg - and we
too!
In 2004, the conference once again left Europe to
head to Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt. With its largest-ever delegation
of 22 people, Heidelberg continued to mark their spot as established
WorldMUN-contestors (> WorldMUN
2004 Info). Again, the initiative's efforts were recongnized
and led to the representation of the Russian Federation.
This year, WorldMUN returned to Europe: the event
was held in Edinburgh, Scottland. The University of Heidelberg
has sent 14 delegates representing the People's Republic of China
- once again a P5-contry - and the Republic of Botswana (>
WorldMUN 2005 Info).
For the first time, Heidelberg has dispatched a delegation to
the other renowned MUN-conference: the New York National Model United
Nations (NMUN) representing the Republic of Slovenia (> NMUN
2005 Info).
For 2006, we are eager to start preparation for Harvard WorldMUN moving to asia, held at Beijing, China, and hosted by Peking University (> WorldMUN 2006 Info). |
