WUDC 2013: Key Results

Champions: #48 University of Monash B (James Beavis & Nita Rao)
Finalists: #2 University of Sydney B (Paul Karp & Dominic Bowes), #6 University of Auckland A (Stephanie Thompson & Ben Milsom), #24 University of Otago A (Alec Dawson & Kieran Bunn)
ESL Winners: #14ESL BRAC University A (Ratib Mortuza Ali & Aaqib Farhan Hossain)
EFL Winners: #5EFL University of Porto A (Ari da Cunha & Tiago Laranjeiro)

Top 10 Speakers
1. Pam Cohn (University of London Union A)
1. Chris Bisset (Monash University A)
3. Catherine Murphy (University of London Union A)
4. Madeline Schultz (Monash University A)
5. Paul Karp (University of Sydney B)
5. Christine Simpson (University College Dublin L&H A)
7. Dominic Bowes (University of Sydney B)
8. Elle Jones (University of Sydney B)
9. Mark Haughton (University College Dublin L&H A)
10. Seb Templeton (Victoria University of Wellington A)
10. Nita Rao (Monash University B)

Top 5 ESL Speakers
1. Martin Kiik (Harvard University C)
2. Arinah Najwa (International Islamic University A)
3. Syed Saddiq (International Islamic University A)
4. Karin Merckens (University of Leiden A)
5. Daan Welling (University of Leiden A)
5. Senna Maatoug (University of Leiden C)
5. Henk van Zullen (University of Groningen A)

Top 5 EFL Speakers
1. Ary da Cunha (University of Porto A)
2. Viktor Prlja (University of Belgrade A)
3. Rodolfo Mendez (Monterrey Institute of Technology A)
4. Radu Tiganas (University of Bucharest A)
5. David Lopez (Monterrey Institute of Technology A)

WUDC 2013: BRAC Wins ESL Title, Porto Tops EFL

The winners of the secondary brackets of the 2013 World Universities Debating Championships are all first-time champions who have made history for their countries. 

In the ESL competition, #14ESL BRAC University A (Ratib Mortuza Ali & Aaqib Farhan Hossain) from Bangladesh won after they defended the motion imploring democracies to give parliamentary seats to large groups of foreigners. Ratib, dressed in a traditional golden Bengali outfit and spoke passionately about the plight of his countrymen who travel and reside in the United Kingdom, also won the audience vote to be the final's "darling". In the EFL category, #5EFL University of Porto A (Tiago Laranjeiro & Ary da Cunha) from Portugal rose triumphant in a debate on the decline of American hegemony. Both Bangladesh and Portugal had never won in any WUDC category before.   

The Bangladeshis in the final defeated higher ranked teams #1ESL University of Leiden A (Daan Welling & Karin Merckens), #2ESL Leiden C (Rogier Baart & Senna Maatoug) and #4ESL Raphael Recananti International School A (Ben Gladnikoff & Alon van Dam). They also ended a three-year Israeli reign over the ESL category. The Portuguese overcame challenges from #12 Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg A (Johannes Samlenski & Jannis Limperg), #14 University of Tokyo A (Toshinari Ishikawa & Kuwa Inokuchi) and #15 University of Bucharest A (Radu Tiganas & Serban Pitic).

Euro 2012: Key Results & Motions

BPP Law School (Harish Natarajan & Jack Watson) won the 2012 European Universities Debating Championships in Belgrade in their third consecutive grand final. The same pair reached the EUDC finals in 2010 and 2011 when they were debating for University of Cambridge. BPP Law School, a British institution specialising in professional legal training, had never made it to the last debate of the continental tournament before. Harish Natarajan will be the chief adjudicator in the 2014 World Universities Debating Championships in Chennai. The key results of the competition can be found below along with the motions.

Champions: BPP Law School (Harish Natarajan & Jack Watson)
Finalists: University College Dublin L&H A (Christine Simpson & Mark Haughton), University of Cambridge A (Ashish Kumar & Joe Roussos), University of Oxford A (Hasan Dindjer & Thomas Hosking)
Best Speaker: Maria English (University of Cambridge C)
ESL Champions: University of Leiden A
ESL Finalists: University of Tallinn A, Raphael Recanati International School A, Berlin A
Best ESL Speaker: Danique van Koppenhagen (University of Utrecht A)

Motions:

R1. THBT parents should choose not to send their children to private school
R2. THBT First Nations' peoples (e.g Native Americans in the US or Aboriginal Australians) who live in geographically seperate areas should be given comple autonomous self-government
R3. THBT the music industry should not facilitate the comebacks of artists who committed violent crimes
R4. THBT the Mexico government should remove all limits on law enforcement and the military in the fight against organised crime
R5. THBT the European Central Bank should unconditionally buy significant amounts of government debt from struggling Eurozone countries
R6. THW limit the amount that can be spent by corporations in any one course of litigation
R7. THW require the military to recruit soldiers in direct proportion to the socio-economic make-up of their country
R8. THBT the Palestinians should accept complete demilitarisation in return for a guaranteed sovereign state
R9. THW allow anyone to take up residence in any country provided that they will not be an economic burden on that country

QF (main) THBT Republika Srpska should secede From Bosnia Herzegovina
QF (ESL) THS life sentences without possibility of parole for serial re-offenders
SF (main) THBT schools should aggressively screen students, according to their abilities from a young age
SF (ESL) THBT militaries in newly democraticised Arab states should act as guardians of secularism
GF (main) THW amend the US constitution to prohibit any involvement by religious organisations in the electoral process
GF (ESL) THW retrospectively remove all amnesties granted to those who committed crimes as part of oppressive regimes

WUDC 2012: Key Results

Champions: #28 Monash University B (Amit Golder & Kiran Iyer)
Finalists: #2 University of Oxford B (Steph Bell & Jen Coyne), #8 Stanford University A (Faris Mohiuddin & Michael Baer), #18 University of Sydney B (Elle Jones & Daniel Swain)
ESL Champions: #1ESL University of Tel Aviv A (Omer Nevo & Sella Nevo)
EFL Champions: #2EFL DA Ewha University A (Ji-Sook Kang & Hyo-Cheon Kim)

Top 10 Speakers

1. Ben Woolgar (University of Oxford A/ENG)
2. Steph Bell (University of Oxford B/ENG)
3. Stephen Whittington (Victoria University of Wellington A/NZL)
4. Paul Karp (University of Sydney A/AUS)
5. Hugh Burns (University of Oxford A/ENG)
6. Michael Baer (Stanford University A/USA)
7. Patrick Caldwell (University of Sydney A/AUS)
8. Udayan Mukherjee (Victoria University of Wellington A/NZL)
9. Chris Bisset (Monash University C/AUS)
10. Catherine Murphy (Trinity College Dublin Historical Society B/IRE)

Top 5 ESL Speakers

1. Omer Nevo (University of Tel Aviv A/ISR)
2. Sella Nevo (University of Tel Aviv A/ISR)
3. Danique van Koppenhagen (University of Utrecht A/NLD)
4. Rogier Baart (University of Leiden A/NLD)
5. Tomas Beerthuis (University of Utrecht A/NLD)

Top 5 EFL Speakers
1. Goran Jankuloski (University of Belgrade C/SER)
2. Roderick Sibarani (Universitas Indonesia A/INA)
3. Ahmad Naufal Dai (Universitas Indonesia C/INA)
3. Yuki Tominaga (University of Tokyo A/JPN)
5. Fumihiko Sano (University of Tokyo B/JPN)

WUDC 2012: No Indonesia in EFL Final

#1 Universitas Indonesia C (Ahmad Naufal Dai & Irene Severina) and #8 Sekolah Tinggi Akuntansi Negara A (Teddy Triatmojo & Halim Nuswantoro) failed to become the first Indonesians to reach a grandfinal in the World Universities Debating Championships of any category. They were a step away from advancing into the EFL category grandfinal at the 2012 WUDC in Manila but #4EFL National University of Defence Technology A from China and #5EFL University of Zagreb A denied them making history. The other finalists are #3EFL University of Belgrade C and #2EFL Ewha University A from South Korea.

In ESL category, #1ESL University of Tel Aviv A, #3ESL University of Leiden A, #7ESL Berlin Debating Union and #9ESL International Islamic University of Malaysia B advanced to the grandfinals. Tel Aviv won last year's ESL crown. The EFL and ESL grandfinals will take place tomorrow before the main final

WUDC 2012: UI Team at Double-Digit After R5

Universitas Indonesia C (Ahmad Naufal Dai & Irene Severina) won 3 rounds in a row from R3 to R5 at the 2012 World Universities Debating Championships in Manila. With 4 preliminaries to go, including one more today, they are at a favourable standing with 11 VPs so far. Usually, teams need to garner 18 VPs in 9 rounds to advance into the main WUDC break. No Indonesian pair have broken into the main knockouts and the current record-holder, another UI team, ended with 16 points in WUDC 2008 in Bangkok. Several Indonesians made the ESL/EFL cut in previous editions.

The teams that Naufal and Irene defeated include University of Auckland (NZ), Georgetown University (US) and a pair from University of Leiden (NL) who championed the ESL category at Oxford IV this year. Last year, Naufal's team bagged 11 VPs and reached the EFL semifinals. This is Irene's first Worlds. The pair, both majoring in International Relations, and another UI student won the 3-on-3 Java Overland Varsities English Debate in 2009. Naufal won the 2009 Founders' Trophy and the 2011 Binus International Debate with other UI partners.