Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations. It aims to educate participants about current events, diplomacy, issues facing the global community, the functioning of international relations and the United Nations agenda in this regard.

Participants research on the allotted country and role-play diplomats representing a nation or an NGO in an equivocated session of a committee of the United Nations, such as the General Assembly or the Security Council. They debate and deliberate on international issues by giving speeches to the committee and writing resolutions concerning a given agenda. This requires the employment of an array of communication and critical thinking skills in order to represent the policies of their country. These skills include public speaking, group communication, research, policy analysis, active listening, negotiating, conflict resolution, note taking and technical writing. Many conferences run additional crisis simulations in which hypothetical real world issues are created in order to adjudge the spontaneity, diplomacy and flexibility of the delegate while under stress.

In Model United Nations, students step into the shoes of ambassadors from the U.N. member states to debate current issues on the organization's vast agenda. “Student delegates" in Model United Nations prepare draft resolutions, plot strategies, negotiate with supporters and adversaries, resolve conflicts and intensely navigate the United Nations rules of procedures as applied in the respective United Nations bodies, all in the interest of mobilizing "international cooperation" to resolve problems.

All MUN delegates have to obey these Rules of Procedure, which are a simplified version of those used in the real United Nations conferences. Chairs and Co-Chairs lead the sessions of the committees and guide the direction of the debate.

The objective of all such deliberations and debates is to pass a Resolution which includes the topics of deliberation and the possible solutions to the containment of the issue at hand. Additionally, at the end of the conference, awards are commonly given to individual delegates, delegations, or both.

Model United Nations participants learn how the international community acts on its concerns about topics including peace and security, human rights, the environment, food and hunger, economic development, and globalization. Model United Nations delegates also look closely at the needs, aspirations, and foreign policy of the countries they will represent at the event