The Municipality of St. Gio? The Students Manage It

The town, St. Gio, is imaginary, the money is imaginary but the reality that surrounds it is, if not real, certainly very likely. About 80 students of the "Public accounting and performance management" course, as part of the BSc program in Economics and Management of Government and International Organizations at Bocconi University, challenge themselves "in an innovative management game". So explains Alexandra Torbica, director of the Center for Research on Health and Social Care Management (CERGAS) of SDA Bocconi as well as director of the program and of the project itself, "which sees students step into the shoes of public decision makers". In practice, they must decide which projects to finance in the municipal area, how to find resources, if necessary involving private sources, and develop a performance evaluation system to be submitted to citizens.

"In order to reach the final decision, the students, based on a series of criteria, must develop a budget basis and therefore have the sustainability of the planned investments themselves assessed", continues the professor, "reproducing a real situation in all respects. And being able to combine the technical skills learned in the classroom with a more distinctly political part, that is, taking into consideration what citizens want ". But a very important aspect of this management game is that it proceeds parallel to the lessons in the classroom in order to be as realistic as possible, immediately applying what has been learned. "The game is organized in three parts, which refer to the three parts of the program (accounting and public budgeting, financial management, and performance management) ", resumes Torbica, who for this project is among the winners of the Bocconi award for teaching innovation, "and the message we want to convey is that the skills and techniques acquired during the lessons are transferable and replicable in real situations and that the political consequences of the decisions taken must not be underestimated".

At the end of the course, the groups will deliver a report and a power point presentation of their work, but also a press release to inform the citizens of St. Gio about the decisions taken. Their only hope of being re-elected is to be convincing.