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A few footsteps are heard, he catches his breath and climbs onto the stage. In front of him is a group of expectant people. "As of today a rescue mission statement has been carried out to a group of 20 UN observers in the territory of Liria..."

Ignacio Yárnoz, Mission Commander of the group 18th Wing explained in a press conference the current status of the mission statement he had been entrusted with: to rescue the UN observers kidnapped by a group of terrorists group . Next to him, Edurne Berenguer, in charge of the timing, was calm after having accomplished her task: the timing of the operation was fundamental, she had made sure that the group had complied with the established deadlines.

In this way, both culminated their performance in the Joint Decision activity and returned to the real world as students of the University of Navarra.

Four hours earlier, they gathered at classroom of Amigos Building together with their classmates from Degrees in Psychology, International Office and from the Leadership and Governance program of School in Economics. There, the 50 students learned about the activity that awaited them as part internship of subject Group Psychology. Preliminarily, active Air Force pilots who collaborate with this internship instructed the students with a methodology of work typical of air units that would facilitate the subsequent planning development , the so-called methodology of the 4T's, consisting of a correct identification of: priorities (Tasks), objectives (Targets); threats and potential disruptors (Threats); and tactics and ways to carry out the mission statement (Tactics).

Through a fictitious geopolitical scenario created for the internship, the students were immersed in a complex international context, and received the orders to be carried out. On the spot, several groups of students were formed and, divided by colored vests, were assigned to various tasks: the first, group Wing 18, was the largest, and led by its Mission Commander, was to plan an aerial rescue mission statement of the 20 kidnapped UN members. At its position, there were subgroups formed by students of the three Degrees, dedicated to analyze the enemy means, the environment, tactics or to assess the damage already done on the ground (according to the story).

The second, the group Psyops, formed by future psychologists, had to carry out informative actions to influence the imaginary national and international population in favor of the intervention of group Wing 18; while the third, the group Agressor, also formed by Psychology students, had to do the opposite: a campaign of disinformation and manipulation against Wing 18 and the United Nations. Both had to make use of the theoretical contents explained in subject Group Psychology and their own improvisation and cunning to, through social networks, disconcert the opposing side.

An example of an integrated inter-faculty learning methodology

Joint Decision is an activity that is framed within the integrated learning methodology, as it is a internship carried out within the subject Group Psychology. This methodology corresponds to one of the strategic objectives for which the University of Navarra is betting for the coming years with the project Horizon 2020.

The goal of this activity is for the student to develop leadership, productivity, decision-making, cohesion and group influence skills. Psychologist and professor at School of Education and Psychology, Luis Angel Diaz explained: "As the name of the activity, Joint Decision, reflects, it is about students making a joint decision to achieve the success of mission statement. It mainly promotes the use of shared information and work as a team".

On the other hand, the professor stressed the importance of the students getting into the role: "The benefit for the students is that they live the experience as their own, they feel what has been explained in class, in this way they learn and understand". "In addition, the student has the opportunity to work in multidisciplinary groups in which the members are not regular colleagues of programs of study, they are new acquaintances, and this makes the exercise much more valuable, it opens them to a new, dynamic world, to a knowledge of new people," he added.

This activity is organized by the School of Education and Psychology at partnership with the School of Economics, Law and the Air Force.