The University Game (UNIGAME 4.1) [1]

What is The ‘University Game’?
The University Game is an interactive dynamic simulation environment. The model, which the game is based on, is a large system dynamics model of the academic aspects of a university management system. In particular, the model focuses on those university problems that are dynamic and persistent in nature and as such must be addressed by high level, strategic policy making mechanisms within the university. These strategic policy making mechanisms are typically the rector, the deans and the major policy making councils at the university and divisional levels. The player plays the role of a university policy-maker, who is trying to seek a delicate balance among the main academic functions of the university, in order to get better output from these activities, both in terms of quality and quantity. Examples of output measures include number of research papers published, average class size, student/faculty ratios, income generated for the university from projects and sponsored research, etc.

The player does not have too many decision opportunities, because most of the decisions are restricted by the environment that the university is assumed to operate in. For example, the maximum number of new students to be admitted for undergraduate study, salaries paid to faculty members, vacant positions and many other conditions are imposed on the player. The objective of the player is to make seven decisions, so as to improve the indicators about the quality and quantity of the performance of the university, within the limitations imposed by outside factors.

Logical Flow of the Game
The game is designed as a series of screens that are connected to each other. The opening screen displays the title of the game, the credits and three buttons, two of which are used to select to play a new game or continue an old game. The third button is used to exit the simulation environment. When the 'New Game' button is pressed a name for the new game output is asked. Though the player can give any name to this file (provided that it has the extension .vdf and it is at most eight characters long if the operating system is Windows 3.x.), it is better to give file names which indicate the player and the order of the games; for example, JSmith01.vdf, JSmith02.vdf, JSmith03.vdf, so on. This will simplify the process of evaluating the results. When the 'Old Game' button is pressed the name of the game that is to be continued is asked.

After a name is given to the data file, the game initiation screen appears. Here, the player may start the game by using the 'Start' button or change the game conditions by pressing the 'Game Conditions' button. Please note that you can not change the game conditions during a game, you can only view them. The simulation is done in terms of semesters, i.e., one time unit is equal to one semester. The simulation can last 10 to 50 semesters.

After the Start button is pressed the main game screen appears. On the top left corner of the screen are the ‘game controls.’ Here, the final time and the current time are displayed. There are three buttons. One of them is the Exit button and the other is the End button that can be used to end the current game at any time, without exiting the simulation environment. Step Back button is used to move back in simulation.

Under the ‘game controls,’ the Decision box is also displayed. The player enters his decisions in the boxes to the right of the buttons with the names of the decision variables on them. Pressing the buttons, the graphs of the decision variables can be displayed. After the decisions are made, the Advance ... button should be pressed. When this button is pressed the simulation advances one interval (semester) and the new values of the variables are calculated.

On the right side of the screen, are the main indicators of the model. The numbers in blue are the values of the variables written in the buttons, at the current time interval. Pressing the buttons, the graphs of the variables can be displayed. The More Indicators button will turn the page to display some more indicators. It is possible to return to the main indicators, by pressing the Main Indicators button. There is a total of 60 indicators on two pages.

In the bottom left corner is the More Info and Causal Analysis box. The button in this box makes possible the detailed analysis of ALL the variables included in the model. This tool is designed for more experienced players, as the analysis tools provided in this box presume some minimum understanding of the game and its logic. The top left button must be clicked first to select a variable to analyze. The other three buttons on the left and the buttons on the right are used to display analysis objects like behavior patterns, tables, fish-bone graphs and causal-loop diagrams. All these buttons (tools) apply to the variable currently “selected” for analysis by the user. The button on the bottom right takes the player back to the main game screen.

Hints and Warnings
The values displayed in the decision boxes at the beginning of the game are some initial 'neutral' values, not the optimal values. The player could make decisions even at the first step of the simulation and should revise his decisions at each step, by making use of the provided information feedback, graphs and other tools.

In making the faculty hiring decisions, the player should keep in mind that there are retiring (quitting) faculty members at each time interval.

A good balance should be struck in the IGP (Income Generating Projects)

Share for Faculty decision, because setting this value too low would cause the faculty members not to take part in projects that are realized through university channels and to tend to do ‘unofficial’ projects (UP). On the other hand, setting this value too high would cause the net revenue left to the university through IGP activities to decrease considerably. The default value of this decision variable is set at 60% initially in the game. (Corresponding to about $40/hour net income, when computed at the initial project activities in the game. Meanwhile, the expected income from “unofficial” projects is assumed to be $80/hour, which can be changed by the player in the “Game Conditions” screen).

A faculty member who does both graduate and undergraduate teaching and who has significant research skills and interest is defined as a graduate faculty member. An undergraduate faculty member is one who does only undergraduate teaching and is involved in minor research. Release time for Graduate Faculty Members is the decrease (in hours per week) to be made on the maximum instruction loads of the graduate faculty members (assumed to be six hours/week), in order to provide them extra time for research and project activities. Graduate Faculty with Release Time Percentage (GF w/ Release T. Percentage Giving), a related decision, represents what percentage of the total graduate faculty body is to be given a release time. Giving positive values to these decision variables may increase the research and project outputs by some graduate faculty members, but can, on the other hand, increase the instruction loads on the undergraduate faculty and the graduate faculty members with no release time.

The desired average class size for undergraduate instruction is 30 and the minimum average class size for graduate instruction is 6. In the internal computations, it is also assumed that the maximum class sizes for undergraduate and graduate classes are 100 and 25, respectively. The maximum possible graduate faculty supply and the maximum possible undergraduate faculty supply are assumed to be 200 in any given term. (Salaries and instruction loads could cause the actual faculty supplies to be much less than these values).

The game starts with approximate initial values of Boğaziçi University in the first semester of 1983.

The minimum and maximum limits for decisions are as follows:

Finally, please keep in mind that there is no winning or losing in such educational systemic games. The purpose is not to be on some 'high scores' list, but to learn from the game. And for this purpose, the player should try to base his decisions on the information feedbacks displayed through the game. The expectation is that the player's understanding of the problem issues will gradually increase over a period of time, after playing the game many times.

Feedback
Please send all comments and suggestions on UNIGAME to Yaman Barlas, Boğaziçi University, Dept. of Industrial Engineering Bebek-İSTANBUL TURKEY. Email: ybarlas@bogazici.edu.tr Fax: +90 212 26518 00

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