What if you had to manage a global geopolitical crisis in the middle of the night? This was the challenge brilliantly met by some 50 students from HEIP – Hautes Études Internationales & Politiques and the Institut Catholique de Rennes, on the night of March 6 to 7, on the OMNES Education Rennes Bretagne campus.
For 14 hours non-stop, these students were immersed in a succession of diplomatic, military and humanitarian crises worthy of the greatest contemporary tensions. A total immersion, demanding, sometimes overwhelming – and above all, deeply formative.
One night, one mission: facing the unexpected
As early as 8:00 p.m. (Tehran time), the first alerts were sounded: a collision in the Persian Gulf between a Saudi ship and an Iranian cargo ship loaded with weapons. Less than two hours later, a military escalation between India and Pakistan began in the Himalayas, followed by the assassination of a humanitarian aid worker in Bombay, attributed to Mossad.
And the night is just starting…
Events unfold at a frenetic pace: an earthquake in Iran, a record rise in oil prices, threats of secession in the United States, an attack in China… Each new development pushes the participants to the limit, requiring them to juggle raw information, diplomatic management and strategic reaction.
Action-based learning: stress, strategy, solidarity
Divided into state units, international organizations, NGOs, private companies and the media, the students took on the roles of decision-makers and negotiators in a context of global tension. An exercise sometimes referred to as a ” diplomacy game “, but which, according to Erwan Le Gall, HEIP Rennes Professor, is “nothing like a game”.
“It was indeed an original way of learning, learning self-control and endurance in the face of fatigue and stress. The students blew me away with their responsiveness and rigor.”
Supervised by Erwan Le Gall (Professor at HEIP Rennes) and Adrien Champroux (Head of Teaching at the Institut Catholique de Rennes), the students were guided through this real-life situation, punctuated by military briefings, simulated media interventions and tight diplomatic negotiations.
A human and intellectual challenge
Beyond the pressure and the fictitious stakes, this night above all revealed the commitment, collective intelligence and resilience of future professionals in diplomacy, international relations and strategy.
“This project has been in preparation for almost a year. To see the students take it on with such seriousness and inventiveness is extremely moving.”
And how would you have handled this international crisis?
See you next year for a new, even more ambitious crisis simulation. In the meantime, relive the highlights of this night like no other through the stories of our students and teachers on our social networks.