Chennai college to host World University Debating Championship

Later this month,Rajalakshmi Engineering College (REC), Chennai, is all set to bring the World University Debating Championship (WUDC) to India for the first time. The WUDC — started 33 years ago and considered the biggest debating event today — will be hosted at REC between December 27, 2013 and January 1, 2014 for which 372 teams from nearly 62 countries have registered. Universities such as Stanford, Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge and Monash (last year’s champions) are all set to take part in this battle of words.

Anu Prasan, an alumnus of REC, and the chairperson of the committee at REC which is working toward making it all happen, said, “REC has been taking part in international debates for three years. Last year we participated in WUDC Berlin and this year we have gone one step further to bring it home. We were competing with a university from Thailand but we won the bid.”

Thangam Meganathan, Chairperson of the Rajalakshmi Educational Trust, said: “It’s definitely a student initiative. Once students brought this to us, the management encouraged them. We are only facilitators, the event is organised by the Debating Council. We are happy about this because this is the very first time WUDC is coming to India and it has been brought by our students. ”

Given that WUDC is taking place in Chennai , the number of Indian participants has gone up.

“There are 59 students from India as of now but this is bound to go up to 65 debaters and adjudicators,” Prasan said. Debaters from the National Law School, Delhi University, IIT Bombay, Anna University and Christ University are among some of the Indian participants.

The debates are in the British Parliamentary format, with a pair forming a team. In each debate two randomly selected teams are pitted against two others, and the topic of the debate is given just fifteen minutes prior to the debate.

“You will see students will have huge case files on international politics and all sorts of subjects. They aren’t allowed to use the Internet. That is the most interesting thing about this debate. At the end of the 15{+t}{+h} minute they should be back in the room,” Prasan explained.

After the preliminary knock-outs debaters are sorted into three categories: English as a primary language, English as a second language and English as foreign language. After this are the octo-finals, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. Each debate lasts for an hour-and-a-half and is judged by three adjudicators selected by the WUDC.

“As of now we have confirmed 265 judges and 400-440 adjudicators,” he said. Prasan and his team are expecting up to 1,200 participants including students, judges and adjudicators.

What is interesting is which category India, with the second largest number of English speakers, falls in.

According to Prasan, “This is one topic of the debate itself. Where India belongs – in English as a primary language or English as a secondary language? It changes every year, but last year we competed in the first category. In fact, the current debating champion, Nita Rao, representing Monash University, is an Indian!”

Prasan, when asked about the prize, smiled and cheekily said, “It is not about the prize. It is about the title.”

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