UM students awarded in 2016 ‘Model European Union’

The 2016 Asia Pacific Regional Model European Union was held last weekend at the Hong Kong Baptist University. The event, which was co-organized by the European Union Academic Programme in Maca0 (EUAP-M) and its counterpart organization in Hong Kong (EUAP-HK), brought together 22 students to discuss the current migrant and refugee wave affecting Europe and to try to reach a set of conclusions.
As part of the event, students were required to discuss proposals and negotiate with each other, all the while staying as close to their designated country’s foreign policy as possible and seeking to secure the greatest benefit to their nation in the event of an agreement. The event was a simulation of the European Council and, as in the case of the real council, agreements are usually adopted unanimously.
The EUAP-M participated in the two-day event with three teams of two students, involving five students from the University of Macau (UM) and one from the Macau University of Science and Technology. The six students competed against other students from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand.
UM students Nick Wauben and Han Xiangzhi, who jointly represented Italy in the simulation, won the best team award. Meanwhile, José Miguel Nuño de la Rosa Ortiz, also from UM, won the best individual award for his representation of Denmark.
Also present at the simulation in a chairing capacity was Dr Stern Verhoeven of UM’s Faculty of Law.
Established in 2012, the EUAP-M is the product of a partnership between UM and the Institute of European Studies of Macau, and is co-financed by the European Union (EU). It aims to raise awareness of the EU among Macau’s general public and students at all levels. DB