In the year 2006, students from Maastricht University (UM) decided to found the United Nations Student Association Maastricht (UNSA). In the university library they created a draft of what would later become the organizational structure of an inter-facular student association, which aims to engage in an interactive and critical evaluation of the United Nations structure, method of work, and its position in the world. Realizing that the theories learned in class which are supposed to solve international issues do not suffice in practice, they created a platform in which student can gather practical experience. It took two years of dedicated work for the first local Model United Nations conference to be organized, known as EuroMUN. Originally a rather small conference with 150 delegates attending. Since then the conference has grown rapidly, expanding to become Europe's second largest Model United Nations conference in 2010, with 550 participants.
Having now been in existence for over five years UNSA has been able to establish itself as one of the most prominent international student associations in Maastricht. Through constant member growth and an increased interest in UNSA as well as through new partnerships with other student associations and the university, UNSA has been able to set new milestones every year.
This is not only evident by the impressive growth of EuroMUN. Our Events Committee for example has joined hands with other associations to form the first of its kind inter-facular debating club for students in Maastricht. It has also helped set up a ground breaking film series about sustainability. Furthermore UNSA now hosts an annual gala, which is one of the social highlights of the year. However not only the Events Committee has seen rapid growth and improvement throughout the years, but also the Delegations Committee and Project Committee have developed into cornerstones of UNSA.
UNSA is now able to send a well prepared delegation to a conference every other month, including members of the Permanent Delegation. The Permanent Delegation was set up in 2010 as an initiative by the Delegations Committee in order to allow students to become expert delegates through extensive training.
Through the Project Committee UNSA has been able to establish a large network of NGOs to which it sends students since the summer of 2010. The Project Committee has also been able to raise significant sums as donations for charities all over the world.
UNSA has become ever more successful in fulfilling its goals throughout the years. This is thanks to the increasing base of dedicated members and with the success of the present UNSA is hoping to have an even brighter future.
