Model United Nations is one of the premier programs in PAS’s secondary school co-curricular activities. MUN at PAS is made up of 2 main components, introductory classes at the Middle School and High School level, and a formal club in the High School.

The MUN calendar at PAS begins immediately in the first week of school. Interested students attend meetings weekly, usually on Thursday afternoons, for approximately 90 minutes. In the introductory classes, students are trained by experienced teachers in MUN to develop the skills in researching and understanding global issues, thinking critically to formulate ideas about how to solve those issues, debating those ideas in a formal setting. In the after school club, older, more veteran participants, and the student leadership (chosen by the previous student leadership in the previous academic year) refresh participants skills in the areas before jumping straight into mock debates to prepare for a series of conferences both within and outside Taiwan.

PAS MUN students are selected based on experience and ability for participation at the appropriate level for any of the following conferences during the course of the academic year.

1. Less experienced students gain that valuable experience through participation in local conferences in Hsinchu (HSINMUM) in October or in Taichung (TAIMUN in April).

2. Moderately experienced students still developing key strengths do so through attending conferences such as The Concordia International School Shanghai MUN (CISSMUN) in January or the Beijing Model United Nations (BEIMUN) in March

3. The most experienced and/or strongest students are eligible to attend The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) conferences in Singapore in November and in The Netherlands in January. Under the umbrella of the THIMUN Foundation, these conferences are among the largest and most prestigious MUN conferences in the world, attended by hundreds of schools and thousands of students.

4. Middle school MUN students, as a capstone exercise to their introductory MUN class and experience, attend the Taipei American School Model United Nations (TASMUN) in April.

5. All students participate in a final, in-school MUN conference bringing all of these levels together in June, known as PASMUN.

MUN is an outstanding activity for developing student leadership, understanding of world issues, and critical thinking skills. It is THE premier global program for establish the leaders of the future. As former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stated during a visit to the THIMUN closing ceremonies in The Hague in 2002,

“The fact that THIMUN exists to uphold the ideals of the United Nations among the young is particularly important since it is from the young that we should draw our energy and inspiration as we strive to make the United Nations effective and responsive to the needs of the people worldwide.”