A group of high flyers from the city's college have beaten off 600 students from over forty schools and colleges from the UK and Europe to jointly win the prestigious Model United Nations (MUN) debating competition held in Bath last weekend.

Proudly showing off their winner's plate, previously engraved with some of the country's top public schools such as Eton, Haberdashers and Cheadle Hulme, the group of 5 students from the Reach Academy at Exeter College is the first state team ever to win the Best Delegation title at the Bath International Schools' MUN event.

The Model United Nations is a simulation or role play of the United Nations and participants take on the role of delegates from countries who are members of the UN and debate serious global issues facing the international community today such as international debt, the situation in Syria and child soldiers. All MUN competitions are run as a model of the real UN – with the focus on national policy and political knowledge – with many benefits for the delegates such as building confidence and increasing knowledge of international business, politics and culture.

“This competition enables our students to experience and experiment with strategic thinking, negotiation, diplomacy, public speaking, international relations and independent research” said Martin Gilbert, coordinator of the college's Reach Academy. “Many of these skills are essential in the careers these students are considering and the MUN challenges them to see the global picture of decisions being made. The Reach Academy, through the support of the Met Office and other local businesses, gives the students experiences such as work placements and visiting speakers to openly challenge and debate current affairs. “This competition is the end of a series of debating events and we're proud that we've had Best Delegation from all three of the south west competitions already, but the success at Bath was the most prestigious with the truly international calibre of fellow delegates.”

Taking on the role of diplomats, the winning team represented Bosnia and Herzegovina and over the 3-day intensive programme used a range of skills to get their ideas endorsed by fellow delegates before being challenged to present their arguments to the whole assembly. They won joint place with King Edwards School from Bath who last year won the competition outright.

Joseph McShane, 17, originally from Isca school has hopes of doing Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University and said “The competition was difficult since we needed to initially lobby for support and, as we were representing Bosnia, it was not so easy to attract delegates as perhaps some of the larger countries. It was a challenge to think from someone else's self-interest and point of view rather than our own opinions and the debating standard was really high.”

Preparation is key and the college group had been able to work closely with three University of Exeter students (Lily Noal, Peter Tse and Joe Dale) from 'Model Diplomacy' who helped them plan their key debating points and resolutions in the run up to the competition this month. “Lily, Peter and Joe have been absolutely fantastic working with our students. They give them so much time and support and the students really respond to them. This support was particularly crucial for the Bath conference as we only heard 3 weeks ago we would be able to enter,” said Martin Gilbert “Our other team representing Nepal were also commended so the team as a whole can be very proud'.

“Overall the weekend was an amazing experience,” said Amy Denham, 19 originally from Pilton School, Barnstaple “we've never experienced anything like this before. I found it both personally rewarding and exhilarating. There's no-one to thank more than Martin, Lily, Joe and Peter. I'm hoping to go to University to study International Relations and this event was a big opportunity to meet and network with people from very different backgrounds, when you debate and challenge you can then see you have many similarities.”

“I am delighted with the success of our Reach Academy team at the MUN at Bath as they join the list of illustrious former winners. The Reach Academy is designed to support, stretch and challenge those students who are aspiring to reach the top Universities and this competition, as well as the range of extra-curricular activities and masterclasses they attend, will equip them with the skills they will need for the future whilst raising awareness of the diversity of our international community. To have gained the top accolade against some very challenging teams is outstanding.”