Taipei Tech Students at the New York NMUN

For more than 40 years, National Model United Nations (NMUN), held by the National Collegiate Conference Association (NCCA), provides the opportunity for university-level experimental learning that offers participants insights and perspectives on international issues. NMUN is a global platform that brings together the next generation of international leaders.

The largest NMUN conference takes place in New York annually, which gathers more than 5,000 university student delegates. Although most of the student participants are from the United States and other English speaking countries, some participants are from Taiwan, China, and Korea. Being one of the only three Taiwanese universities participating along with National Taiwan University and National Chengchi University, the Taipei Tech student delegation was honored to have one of its students, Link Nie, elected as Chair of the Security Council.

Link Nie, a senior from the English department of Taipei Tech, came out on top from a group of thousands as one of the most outstanding candidates, and was then elected as Chair of the Security Council. Last year he was co-chair in ECOSOC. Within the UN charter, the Security Council is the only division that has concrete power to take action. Thus, the session was relatively more dynamic, and sometimes challenging. Link recalls the experience as “very interesting, but so nerve-racking it makes your palm sweaty.”

This year, the Taipei Tech delegation represented our friendly ally, Gambia, with 13 exceptional student delegates from different departments assigned in seven respective committees. Unlike most participants that are in politics related majors, the Taipei Tech delegation started with little professional knowledge. Yet regardless of the challenging preparation beforehand, students acquired past experience from last year’s participants, devoted themselves to the intensive training and finally presented an excellent performance in New York.Kimberly Lee, head delegate of Taipei Tech delegation, also a senior from the English department, said that every delegate of Taipei Tech was fully engaged in their role as Gambian diplomats; wholeheartedly committed to the country’s objectives during and even after meeting sessions, mingling, negotiating, and most importantly seeking allies. “We were not intimidated by native English speakers or experienced political science majors,” said Kimberly, “We used our knowledge accumulated from our earnest preparation and contributed a great deal to our respective committees. We couldn’t have done it better!”

Kimberly was in the Commission on the Status of Women and was one of the main sponsors of three resolutions. She made strong impression in delivering effective speeches and finally pushed through an original resolution that focused on women’s health care during political transition. She said that the experience was life-changing to every student of the Taipei Tech delegation that they have bonded with students from all over the world while cooperating with delegates from other countries, and somehow significantly promoting Taiwan.Dr. Yun-Hua Yang, advisor of Taipei Tech delegation, noted that this is the sixth time that Taipei Tech participated in NMUN as the only vocational school doing so in Taiwan. The delegation was proudly awarded Honorable Mentioned. Student delegates voluntarily received training and had greatly enhanced their capacity in leadership, communication, negotiation and critical thinking. They surely are the future leaders of the international community.