New Virtual U - Press and News

Creator of University Management Simulator Challenges Collegiate Media: Do You Think You Can Run A University? Prove It With Virtual U

NEW YORK, Sept. 11 - So you think your school's president isn't up to the job? There's plenty of parking for staff but never enough for students. The football stadium sparkles but classrooms are leaking. Class sizes are too large and professors never offer enough office hours. And everyone knows the school paper is totally under-funded.

"If I ran this place, things would be different," you say. "Staff and students would be more fulfilled. We would have Nobel prizes, high admission standards, and a campus atmosphere that would have us atop U.S. News & World Report's list of top colleges and on the way to basketball's Final Four! I mean...how hard could it be?"

Good question. Virtual U has the answer.

Virtual U (http://www.virtual-u.org) is a new software product that simulates a university system and provides a compelling new way to understand and work with the challenges of higher education in America. If you really think you can run a college or university without running it into financial ruin, spend some time with Virtual U. Maybe you can do it all. Maybe you should sit down with your school's administration and set them straight.

Or maybe you'll come away shaking your head and with a better understanding of just how difficult the job of university president is.

"It's human nature to think 'I could do that,'" says Virtual U designer William Massy, a professor, writer, and university administrator for more than 30 years and president of the Jackson Hole Higher Education Group. "But could you really run a university? I'm challenging college editorial staffs around the country to try it with Virtual U -- and you don't have to worry about being hanged in effigy because the students don't like the food in the dining hall! Although the consequences of your decisions aren't real, they are definitely realistic."

Designed to foster better understanding of management practices in American colleges and universities, Virtual U provides students, teachers, and parents the unique opportunity to step into the decision-making shoes of a university president. Players are responsible for establishing and monitoring all the major components of an institution, including everything from faculty salaries to campus parking. Players can make decisions such as decreasing faculty teaching time or increasing athletic scholarships. However, as in a real college or university, the complexity and potential effects of each decision must be carefully considered. And the Virtual U Board of Trustees is monitoring every move. Virtual U's sophisticated design is driven by a state- of-the-art simulation engine built by renowned game developer Trevor Chan of Enlight Software, creator of the award-winning Capitalism, a simulation of corporate America.

Virtual U models the attitudes and behaviors of the academic community in five major areas of higher education management:

Spending and income decisions such as operating budget, new hires, incoming donations, and management of the endowment;

Faculty, course, and student scheduling issues;

Admissions standards, university prestige, and student enrollment;

Student housing, classrooms, and all other facilities;

Performance indicators.

Virtual U players select an institution type and strive for continuous improvement by setting, monitoring, and modifying a variety of institutional parameters and policies. Players are challenged to manage and improve their institution of higher education through techniques such as creative resource allocation, minority enrollment policies, and tenure parameters, among others. The program measures the passage of time at a rate selected by players, allowing them to watch as the results of their decisions unfold. Players receive a letter of review from Virtual U's board every "year," informing them of their progress.

The Creation of Virtual U
The development of Virtual U was made possible through a partnership that includes the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Jackson Hole Higher Education Group, the Forum for the Future of Higher Education, Institute for Research on Higher Education, and Enlight Software. The program's creation was motivated by the desire of Massy and Sloan's program director Jesse Ausubel to help a range of college and university stakeholders better understand their institutions as dynamic systems. Virtual U is available from Anker Publishing by calling 978-799-6190 or through Anker's Web site at http://www.ankerpub.com and retails for $130. The Strategy and Technical Guide can also be purchased separately for $32.95.For more information, screenshots, and to download a playable demo of Virtual U, visit http://www.virtual- u.org.