Product Fact Sheet
Premise: Virtual U simulates running a university or college. It is a powerful, convenient, and
user-friendly software tool that models the attitudes and behaviors of an academic community.
Storyline: Players act as president of a university or college and struggle to manage the institution's
affairs. The new president sets, monitors, and modifies a variety of institutional parameters and policies.
Players determine tuition cost and allocate resources for all components of the university including teaching,
research, financial aid, faculty salaries, facilities, intercollegiate athletics, and fund raising.
Players check their progress as time goes by and receive a letter of review from the university board every
"year," according to the rate of time passage established by the player.
Objective: Players strive for continuous improvement of the university or fulfillment of a unique game
scenario such as raising minority enrollment.
Features: Virtual U is a fun, interactive simulation tool with these key features:
- Players have a choice of ten playable scenarios or open-ended, customized play.
- Players can adjust all major policies of an academic community including student admission, faculty hiring and
early retirement, course mix, research emphasis, athletic competition, endowment investment, student housing, and
even parking.
- The game is driven by a sophisticated simulation engine that models five broad areas: resource allocation
and finance; academic operations; enrollment management; physical plant activities; and performance indicators.
Student and faculty moral and institutional prestige are also major factors.
- Virtual U is a caricature of real academic life grounded in authentic conceptual structures and
data. Data sources include IPEDS, the College Board, and the High School and Beyond survey.
- Game includes substantial tutorials and a strategy guide to assist players in grasping its complex features and
nuances.
System: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP; 32 megabytes of RAM (64mb recommended); 70 megabytes of available hard disk space; CD-ROM;
sound card optional; Direct X 8.0 with compatible graphics card. Note: product is NOT compatible with Windows
NT 3.5 or 4.0.
Virtual U is playable with Virtual PC for the Macintosh. Please use a G3/G4 800mhz or better machine with 128-256mb of memory
Please also note: Virtual U requires the latest graphics drivers for your system. You may have to upgrade your graphics drivers if Virtual U does not work properly on your system.
Developers: Enlight Software (game; www.enlight.com), the Jackson Hole Higher Education Group (engine),
and the Institute for Research on Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania (data), with support from
the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (www.sloan.org), and the Spencer Foundation (www.spencer.org).
Audience: University administrators, deans, and department chairs; university faculty; educational organizations
and associations; educational consultants; business, management, and educational students; higher education writers;
student game-players; university alumni.
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