Schools and College Liaison Programme

Interactive Workshops:‌

The Department of International Politics uses the Qwizdom as part of its interactive workshops that aim to provide students with foundational knowledge topics such as:

  • Global Inequalities
  • Brexit
  • US Politics
  • Democracy

What is Qwizdom?

  • A fun and engaging interactive platform for quizzes & learning
  • Students are given an interactive handset, enabling them to answer multiple choice questions
  • Supervisors have access to the overall result of the class, indicating any trends in the class.

 

Studying Politics Talks:

Staff from the Department are very pleased to come out to schools and colleges and talk about what it is like to study politics, government and international relations at university in general and at Aberystwyth University in particular. We are happy to answer questions on a wide range of issues from approaches to learning and teaching, to course content and assignments, to extra curricula opportunities and careers.

Schools Crisis Game:

The Department of International Politics was the first university department to use crisis simulations to connect classroom learning with the world complexities of international politics. We run 3 day crisis simulation events with our undergraduates. For Schools and Colleges we run one and two day crisis simulations.

What is a Crisis Game?

Our Crisis Games for schools are usually a one day political role-playing exercise or simulation. Students are given a background dossier that provides a context for the game. Groups of students are then assigned roles to play and the members staff from the Department serve as the referee. Students are allocated to one of several teams, such as states, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), international organisations (IOs) or transnational corporations, and within each they assume the role of a particular leader or decision-maker.

The aim of the exercise is to provide insight into the complexities of national and international politics and a greater appreciation of the difficulties faced by decision-makers when confronted with a national or International crisis. The simulation is a game in political, economic and diplomatic manoeuvres and seeks to develop negotiation, critical thinking and team-work and skills.

Students are given a crisis scenario which is based on recent global events. Previous crisis games have been based on:

  • Nuclear testing in North Korea
  • Brexit
  • War between Russia and Georgia
  • The European Refugee Crisis
  • Environmental disaster in the Arctic

Students must aim to keep in character to enhance the realistic simulation of the crisis and the nature of interaction between various actors. Players are kept up to date with other teams moves by student run media team who run a live newsroom.

 

International Politics Events:

The Department of International Politics has a long and rich history of hosting a wide range of talks, seminars, roundtables and debates on political issues, challenges and events, which are open to all, including A-Level students. Places are usually limited as talks usually attract a near capacity audience regularly in the International Politics department's Main Hall, so if you want to bring a group of students please contact us in advance.

Recent events and talks.

 

For more information please contact Dr Lucy Taylor, Director of Recruitment, Admissions and Marketing for the Department of International Politics.