World Universities Debating Championship

World Universities Debating Championship
Established	1980
Region	International
Format	British Parliamentary Style
Number of Teams	~250–400
Record participation	~400 teams (2012)
Current champions	University of Zagreb
Most championships	University of Sydney (8)
Founded by	Glasgow University Union
Website	worlddebating.org
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The World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) is the world's largest debating tournament and one of the largest annual international student events in the world.^[1] WUDC is parliamentary debating tournament held in British Parliamentary Debate format (involving four teams of two people in each debate). Historically, the format of WUDC was determined by the host country which allowed for the American Parliamentary Debate format (two teams of two people).^[2] Each year, the event is hosted by a university selected by the World Universities Debating Council. The tournament is colloquially referred to as "Worlds" and the winners of the open competition acknowledged as the "world champions". The current world champions, Tin Puljić and Lovro Šprem, are from the University of Zagreb.^[3] The university with the most world championships is the University of Sydney with 8 victories, and the high school with the most world champions is Sydney Grammar School, the University of Sydney's official feeder school and also the top high school worldwide at the World Schools Debating Championship (WSDC),^[4]^[5] responsible for 7 champions and 4 University of Sydney victories and the defeat of Ted Cruz at the 1995 WUDC Semifinal.^[6] The 2021 edition was hosted online by .

History[]

Predecessor Tournaments[]

The Trans-Atlantic University Speech Association held tournaments in London (1976 and 1978) and at McGill University, Montreal, in 1977. Chicago was to hold a tournament in 1979 but this was postponed and then abandoned. A "World Debating Festival", sponsored by Honeywell was held in Sydney in 1978. The TAUSA event attracted mostly Northern Hemisphere tournaments, the Honeywell was largely Southern Hemisphere. The first competition was hosted in Glasgow and convened by debaters at the Glasgow University Union^[7]

Format[]

The championship is usually held in the days following the 25th of December, since many of the institutions attending from the Northern Hemisphere where the championship originated take vacations at this time. Although many countries that do not celebrate Christmas have become participants at the competition, the timing has remained the same. In most recent years, the nine preliminary rounds of the tournament have been held over three days from 29 to 31 December, with the elimination rounds being held on 2 January and the Grand Final on 3 January.^[8]

In recent years, the championship has varied from about 150 to 400 teams, depending on the capacity of the host institution. With judges and organisers, this involves 500 to 1,000 participants in all.^[8]

The competition involves nine preliminary rounds, which become "power-paired" as the tournament progresses, matching the strongest-performing teams against each other. Two teams form the "government" ("proposition" in the UK and North America) and two the "opposition" in each debate room. The process of scoring and pairing these teams is known as "tabbing". The scoring of teams is done by judges, most of whom are students or former students from the competing institutions, who return "ballots" with their scores to the adjudication team, led by a Chief Adjudicator who is assisted by one or more deputies. The deputies are not members of the host institution.

The nine preliminary rounds are followed by a "break" at which the teams proceeding to elimination rounds are announced. This is traditionally done on New Year's Eve, although this is subject to the timing of the tournament. In the current tournament format, the top 16 teams from the preliminary rounds proceed to the octofinal round. The teams ranked 17-48 also break into a partial double octofinal round, and the winning teams from this round join the teams ranked 1-16 in the octo-finals. While preliminary rounds are usually judged by three to five judges, the break rounds are judged by panels of five, semifinal judged by panels of seven and the finals by panels of nine.

Separate breaks are announced for the English-as-a-second language (ESL) and English-as-a-foreign language (EFL) team competitions, for the individual public speaking competition, and the "World Masters" tournament which is participated in by judges (most of whom are no longer students) representing the countries where they studied or of which they are citizens. In addition, a comedy competition is also open to all participants in Worlds.^[9]

Governance[]

The World Universities Debating Council consists of representatives of every country that competes at the World Universities Debating Championship. Each country selects one council delegate (the national debating association president, or selected from the participants at Worlds). The Council is responsible for setting the rules and awarding the right to host the championships.

A Worlds Committee is elected to discuss issues during the year as Council only meets at the championships itself. This Committee consists of a mix of elected officers and regional representatives from Africa, the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, Continental Europe and the Middle East, and the British Isles (referred to in debating as Islands of the North Atlantic thought more politically acceptable than British Isles).

The Council formerly operated not unlike the United Nations Security Council, with seven nations holding "charter member status" – the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. A two-thirds majority of these countries was required for changes to the championship's constitution, irrespective of how the general vote was tallied. However, as the number of non-charter nations attending grew, many fielding far more teams than some of the upper tier, and the championship began being hosted outside the Charter nations, pressure grew for the distinction to be eliminated.

The modern championship grants voting strength of between one and four votes per country, based on numbers of institutions attending recent championships. To allow for fluctuations in participation due to the financial difference in attending championships nearer or further in succeeding years, nations lose or gain their voting strength gradually.

Notable controversies[]

Thailand WUDC 2020[]

There was concern over the public debate of Hong Kong in the Open Grand Final motion. This led to walk-outs during the debate. After the live-stream, all recordings of the debate were deleted and the motion was erased from the tabulation software. Many participants had names removed from the public record retroactively once the competition was over. The organizing committee claims this was done to respect participants' privacy and denies pressure from any national body or representative.^[3]

Cape Town WUDC 2019[]

Accusations of racism were made against members of the organising committee over treatment of participants. On the last day of the competition and just before the Open Grand Final was to begin, an organised protest took place and disrupted the event. Rather than delay the Open Grand Final, speakers and judges were relocated to an undisclosed room and the debate took place in private. This action was the subject of further controversy due to perceived undermining of an anti-racist cause.^[10]

Chennai WUDC 2014[]

This tournament is notable for several controversies. This included "tracking registration payments, to issues with getting participants visas, allocating hotel rooms, picking participants safely up from the airport, toilet paper disappearing, insufficient food provision, and dangerous dirt bike socials".^[11] Discontent among judges who had been offered payment in return for participation resulted in strike threats, jeopardizing the 7th round of the tournament. There were also complaints from Pakistani participants of detention by Indian immigration authorities.^[12]

List of Tournaments[]

Year	Host City	Hosting Institution	Winning Institution	Winning Open Team	Open Finalists	Best Speaker	Topic of Open Grand Final
2023	Madrid, Spain	Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
2022	Belgrade, Serbia	University of Belgrade
2021	Goyang, South Korea		University of Zagreb	Tin Puljić and Lovro Šprem	Ateneo De Manila University 1, London School of Economics B, Ateneo De Manila University 2	Tin Puljić, University of Zagreb	This House supports the creation of an international court with a mandate to prosecute leaders for health crimes.
2020	Bangkok, Thailand	Assumption University	University of Oxford	Jason Xiao and Lee Chin Wee	University of Belgrade A, Macquarie University B, Yale University A	Lee Chin Wee, University of Oxford	This House, as China, would grant universal suffrage to Hong Kong.
2019	Cape Town, South Africa	University of Cape Town	University of Sydney	Bostan Nurlanov and Kevin Lee	Cornell University B, University of Sydney A, University of Zagreb A	James Stratton, University of Sydney	This House believes that the present condition of humanity is preferable to its condition in 100 years time.
2018	Mexico City, México	Asociación Mexicana de Debate	Harvard University	Danny DeBois and Archie Hall	Princeton University A, Stanford University A, University of Sydney C	Dan Lahav, Tel Aviv University	This House would rather save the life of a single child, over extending the life of 5 adults by 10 years.
2017	The Hague, Netherlands		University of Sydney	Emma Johnstone, and James Leeder	Yale University A, Oxford University A, Bates College A	Raffy Marshall, University of Oxford	This House would apply universal jurisdiction to crimes against the environment.
2016	Thessaloniki, Greece		Harvard University	Bo Seo and Fanele Mashwama	Hart House A, University of Sydney B, A	Michael Dunn Goekjian, Faculty of Business Economics and Entrepreneurship, Belgrade	This House believes that the world's poor would be justified in pursuing complete Marxist revolution.
2015	Shah Alam, Malaysia	Universiti Teknologi MARA	University of Sydney	Nick Chung and Edward Miller	Oxford University A, BPP University A, Harvard University A	Ashish Kumar, University of Cambridge	This House believes that humanitarian organisations should, and should be allowed to, give funding, resources or services to illegal armed groups when this is made a condition for access to vulnerable civilians.
2014	Chennai Worlds 2014, Chennai, India	Rajalakshmi Engineering College	Harvard University	Josh Zoffer and Ben Sprung-Keyser	University of Sydney B, University of Glasgow A, University of Cambridge A	Eleanor Jones, University of Sydney	This House believes that India should pursue aggressive economic policies.
2013	Berlin, Germany		Monash University	Nita Rao & James Beavis	University of Otago A, University of Sydney B, University of Auckland A	Chris Bissett, Monash University and Pam Cohn, University of London	This House would not allow religious communities to expel members on the basis of views or actions that contradict doctrinal teachings.
2012	Manila, Philippines	De La Salle	Monash University	Kiran Iyer and Amit Golder	Stanford University A, Oxford University B, University of Sydney B	Ben Woolgar, University of Oxford	This House supports nationalism.
2011	Gaborone, Botswana	University of Botswana	Monash University	Victor Finkel & Fiona Prowse	Oxford University A, University of Sydney A, London School of Economics A	Victor Finkel, Monash University	This House would invade Zimbabwe.
2010	Istanbul, Turkey	Koç University	University of Sydney	Chris Croke and Steve Hind	Harvard University A, London School of Economics A, Oxford University A	Shengwu Li, University of Oxford	This House believes that the media should show the full horror of war.
2009	Cork, Ireland	University College Cork	University of Oxford	James Dray and Will Jones	Monash University B, Harvard University A, Oxford University C	Naomi Oreb, University of Sydney	This House would ban abortion.
2008	Bangkok, Thailand	Assumption University	University of Oxford	Samir Deger-Sen and Lewis Iwu	Monash University, Cambridge University, University of Sydney	Sam Block, University of Cambridge	THB that people who give HIV to others must pay drug support.
2007	Vancouver, Canada	University of British Columbia	University of Sydney	Julia Bowes and Anna Garsia	University of Queensland A, University of Cambridge C, Oxford University D	Jess Prince, University of Oxford	This House believes that economic growth is the solution to climate change.
2006	Dublin, Ireland	University College Dublin	Hart House	Michael Kotrly and Joanna Nairn	Yale University A, Inner Temple, University of Chicago A	Rory Gillis & Beth O'Connor, Yale University	This House would abolish all laws prohibiting cruelty to animals.
2005	Cyberjaya, Malaysia	Multimedia University	University of Ottawa	Erik Eastaugh & Jamie Furniss	University of Cambridge A, Oxford University D, Hart House B	Kylie Lane, Monash University	This House supports corporal punishment in schools.
2004	Singapore	Nanyang Technological University	Middle Temple	Alex Deane & Jeremy Brier	University of Sydney A, Singapore Institute of Management A, Inner Temple	Alex Croft, University of Sydney	This House would ban the abortion of fetuses on the grounds of their permanent disability.
2003	South Africa	Stellenbosch University	University of Cambridge	Jack Anderson & Caleb Ward	Monash University B, University of Cambridge A, University of Melbourne A	Wu Meng Tan, University of Cambridge	This House believes that the world has learned nothing from 9/11.
2002	Toronto, Canada	Hart House	New York University School of Law	Rob Weekes and Alan Merson	University College Dublin, Monash University A, Durham University B	Ewan Smith, University of Oxford	This House Would ban criminals from publishing accounts of their crimes.
2001	Scotland	Glasgow University Union	University of Sydney	Greg O'Mahony and Paul Hunyor	University of London, King's Inns, University of Sydney B	Paul Hunyor, University of Sydney	This House would elect its judges.
2000	Sydney, Australia	University of Sydney	Monash University	Kim Little and Cathy Roussow	University College Dublin, University of Glasgow A, University of La Verne	Andy Kidd, University of Oxford	This House believes Marx would have approved of the internet.
1999	Manila, Philippines	Ateneo de Manila University	Monash University	Meg O’Sullivan and Andrew Phillips	University of Sydney E, University of Oxford, University of Sydney B	Andy Kidd, University of Oxford	This House believes Netanyahu is the biggest obstacle to peace in Israel.
1998	Athens, Greece	Deree College	Gray's Inn	Neil Sheldon and Andy George	Oxford University, University of Edinburgh, University of Western Ontario	Neil Sheldon, Gray's Inn	This House believes that humanitarianism is a first world affectation.
1997	Stellenbosch, South Africa	Stellenbosch University	Glasgow University Union	Andy Hume and Derek Sloan	University of London, Gray's Inn, University of Edinburgh	Andy George, Gray's Inn	This House would legalize all drugs.
1996	Cork, Ireland	University College Cork	Macquarie University	Fenja Berglund and Ben Way	Middle Temple, University of Sydney, University of Edinburgh	Adam Spencer, University of Sydney	This House believes that strong dictatorship is better than weak democracy.
1995	Princeton, United States of America	Princeton University	University of New South Wales	James Hooke & Jeremy Phillips		Chitra Jenardhanan, Nanyang Technological University
1994	Melbourne, Australia	Melbourne	Glasgow University Union	Manus Blessing & Duncan Hamilton	Oxford University, Vassar College, University of Auckland	Ben Richards, Monash University	This House believes that Machiavelli is the way to go.
1993	Oxford, England	Oxford Union Society	Harvard University	David Friedman & David Kennedy	Hart House, Australian National University A, Australian National University B	Daniel Mulino, Australian National University
1992	Dublin, Ireland	Trinity College Dublin	Glasgow University Union	Robin Marshall & Gordon Peterson	Australian National University, University of Sydney A, University of Sydney B	James Hooke, University of New South Wales & Richard Douglas, Australian National University	Nationalism is a hangover from history.
1991	Toronto, Canada	Hart House, University of Toronto	McGill University	Chris Wayland & Mona Gupta		Steve Bibas, University of Oxford
1990	Glasgow, Scotland	Glasgow University Union	Yale University	Matt Wolf & John Wertheim
1989	Princeton, United States of America	Princeton University	University of Sydney	Andrew Bell and Warren Lee		John Gastil, Swarthmore College
1988	Sydney, Australia	University of Sydney	University of Oxford	Michael Hall & Iain Morley		Francis Greenslade University of Adelaide
1987	Dublin, Ireland	University College Dublin	Glasgow University Union	Kevin Sneader & Austin Lally		Michael Hall, University of Oxford
1986	New York City, United States of America	Fordham University	University College Cork	Brian Hassett & Siobhain Lankford		Bruce Meagher, University of Sydney
1985	Montreal, Canada	McGill University	The Honorable Society of King's Inns	Sean Murphy and Damian Crawford		Ashley Black, University of Sydney
1984	Edinburgh, Scotland	University of Edinburgh	University of Sydney			David Celermajer, University of Sydney
1983	Princeton, United States of America	Princeton University	Glasgow University Dialectic Society	Frank McKiergan and John Nicholson		John Geisnell
1982	Toronto, Canada	Hart House, University of Toronto	University of Auckland	Stuart Bugg and David Kidd		Stuart Bugg, University of Auckland
1981	Glasgow, Scotland	Glasgow University Union	Hart House	Steve Coughlan and Andrew Taylor		Andrew Taylor, Hart House	This House regrets living in the nuclear age.