Debating by the Channel: Save the date for the Sciences Po IV 2011 from 7 to 9 May. The English Debating Society (EDS) is going to host the ESL-only tournament in France's Normandy. The format is British Parliamentary Style (BPS), the language of the tournament is English. In 2009, the Sciences Po IV was held for the first time as the first tournament that is for ELS debaters only, as is reported on the competition’s (not yet updatedf) website. ESL stands for “English as a Second Language“ which is a category at international debating tournaments for non-native speakers of English. While ...

This will be the motion of the show debatte which is to be held on 7 February by the Debattierclub München. The debate starts at 19.30 hrs in room M 118 of the main building of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, admission is free. The professors Prof. Dr. Stephan Lorenz, Prof. Dr. Gebhard Rehm (both teaching Law at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität) and Prof. Dr. Ekkart Zimmermann (Political science, Hochschule für Politik München) are going to call for privatisation of universities. Almut Graebsch, Wladislaw Jachtchenko and Valerio Morelli are going to defend the state universites. The decision upon victory or defeat in the debate ...

Again it’s Tuesday night. Time for a bit of debating at Dresden Debating Union (DDU). Today the "Crosstalk" is scheduled, like one could read in the announcement of the weekly newsletter. "Crosstalk" means that only two speakers compete against each other. Each one of them may speak three and a half minutes for two times. At the end of the evening there is a winner, who could defend himself successfully in all the preliminary rounds. Like every week, the motions are important for lively debates. In opposite to the usual debates, this time the motions were drawn. Afterwards the speakers had ...

We're sorry, this article is not available. Please read the German version of this article to learn more about the success of the first "Tübinger Forum".

A new debating union has been founded: last thursday, four students founded the "DUEbattierclub" in Duisburg: Paul Wypych, Philip Scharf, Markus Krümpel and Jörn Hahn, former vice-president of the debating union in Dortmund. During the first debates of this new union all four had strong support: vice-president of the VDCH, the Association of Debating Societies at Universities (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy), Esther Reinert, Lukas Haffert, debater in Cologne and Oliver Knüpfler, president of the debatig union in Münster.

This article is not available in English. Please read the German version of this article to see what various debating societies say about the ZEIT DEBATTE in Mainz on their websites! ...

Sorry, this article is not yet available in English. Please read the German version of this article to learn about the Second Bayreuth Varsity that was held in January.

We are sorry, this article is not available in English. Please read the German version and get to know how debaters from five German cities enjoyed the small tournament in Wartburg style in Jena.

The masters' debate of Berlin Debating Union (BDU) gets into its second round: on 10 February the societies' best speakers compete another time with each other in a public debate. This time, the motion reads "Who is the owner of Nofretete?" Like the last time, when the debate is closed and the speakers have left the room, the audience is allowed to follow the process of adjudication. The masters' debate takes place at 7 pm on 10 February, the venue is "Orbis Humboldtianus" situated above the Audimax at the main building of Humboldt University Berlin. vro / glx

Debatte Karlsruhe elected a new executive board. Leo Vogel was elected as the new board member, joining Christian Zimpelmann, whose period on the board will expire in half a year. The Karlsruhe club elects one of its two board members every university semester, each for the duration of one year. Congratulations and good luck for your work!

The Welsh seaside town Swansea invites for debates in February. The Swansea IV is going to be hosted by the Swansea University Debating Society from Friday 18 to Sunday 20 February. Registration fee will be 25 pounds (circa 30 Euros) and includes crash on Friday and Saturday evening as well as socials on both days. The finals will be held at Saturday and are going to be judged by CA Chris Woods, convenor of the York OV and co-CA of the Sheffield IV. For registration, write to: swanseadebate[at]hotmail.co.uk, for further information have a look at the Facebook page of Swansea IV.

This article is not available in English, please browse the German version of this bit to see some of the photos taken at ZEIT DEBATTE Mainz 2011. ...

Why jet around the planet in real life when there is an easier and less expensive possibility of becoming an online debate champion? For the third time in a row the World Online Debating Championships (WODC) are to be held, well, yes: online! The team cap is 32, so you better register sooner rather than later. And yes, of course you register online on the websites of WODC. Registration fees are 20 US-Dollars per person, but not more than 100 Dollars per team. A team is made up of two to five debaters. Only one team is accepted per nation. ...

Old stagers from Tübingen wrote about how to use rhetoric during academic studies. Daniel Grotzky, himself a veteran on the German debating circuit, penned a review on the book by Tim-C. Bartsch und Bernd Rex. Interested in the book? Read the German version of the article to get a review. glx / apf

Are you in for judging in China? Then let’s got to Beijing for the FLTRP Cup from 7 to 14 May this year! FLTRP stands for Foreign Languages Teaching and Research Press, the host of the National English Debating Championship in the People’s Republic to be held for the 15th time. The tournament is open to Chinese students only, but since the British Parliamentary Style has not been introduced before 2010, the convenors want to guarantee a certain standard of parliamentary debate by inviting international judges. Those interested may register on the website of the FLTRP Cup. In 2010, the FLTRP ...

The next big event of the ZEIT DEBATTEN open its registration: Nils Haneklaus from Debattierclub Stuttgart just opened registration for the ZEIT DEBATTE which will be held in Stuttgart from 11th to 13th March. ...

Who is top of the club? The Dresden Debating Union (DDU) wants to figure that out and therefore hosts on Tuesday, 25 January, an internal tournament called "Crosstalk". ...

Jonathan Scholbach, Severin Weingarten and Eva Schlindwein (Debattiergesellschaft Jena) have just won this year’s Jena Open defying the Pro side. The motion reads "Open Goverment statt Geheimdiplomatie? – Sollen staatliche Informationen frei verfügbar sein?". ...

Apply for the all stars tournament! The International Debate Association (IDEA) und die Hobart and William Smith Colleges (HWS) invite debaters from all over the world to the University of Vermont where a tournament of the masters is to be held on 8 and 9 April 2011. Occasion is the IDEA/HWS Round Robin, invitees are the 16 top teams of the world who have won one or more of the competitions listed below. Language of the tournament is of course English, format is the British Parliametary Style. Teams will be paired in round robin, i.e. every team is going to ...

The Berlin Humboldt Intervarsity 2010, formerly known as Berlin Open, was awarded an exemplary project for transnational youth initiatives in Europe by the EU programme “youth in action”. The former executive of VDCH, the Association of Debating Societies at Universities, had encouraged the Berlin Debating Union (BDU) to apply for support of their competition. The tournament held by the BDU was subsidized by the commission of the European Union through “youth in action” among others such as film and theater projects. The website says the following about the Berlin Open: "'Berlin Open 2010: The European debate tournament‘ is the biggest and ...

After nine years of absence the Euros shall return to the Balkans if everything goes accordingly to Serbian plans. In 2003 the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) had been hosted in the Croatian capital Zagreb. Now Belgrade wants to be stage to the 14th Euros to be held in 2012. The convenors expect 220 teams by the river Danube. Belgrade allures to the party package the European debating circuit always produces with a wild nightlife. The org comm of Milan Vignjević will do the very best within their power to get the most out of it for the ...

The guys of Debattiergesellschaft Jena (DGJ) never stand still: they are already very busy with the preparation of the ZEIT DEBATTE in May, but that doesn’t seem to be enough. That’s why the board of DGJ invited selected debaters to the friendship tournament in the “City of Light” situated at the river Saale. Speakers and adjudicators from Ilmenau, Leipzig, Dresden and Potsdam will come to Jena for the weekend to practise the Wartburg style in four preliminaries and the final. Also members of DGJ take part in the tournament and offer places to sleep to the participants from other cities. Today ...

This article is not available in English. Please read the German version of this article to see what various debating societies say about the ZEIT DEBATTE in Mainz on their websites! ...

The International Office of RWTH Aachen is regularly interviewing different student initiatives, founded in of the university in Aachen. This time, the Chairman of the debating society, Marc-André Schulz, is about to answer some questions. Read the complete interview in german language. ...

Sorry, this article is not yet available in English. Please read the German version to learn more on how Andreas Lazar and his team mate from Debattierclub Stuttgart made it to ESL finals at WUDC 2011.

Prepare for Euros on the spot! From 11 to 13 February 2011 the National University of Ireland in Galway (NUIG) is open to debaters from all over Europe for the Galway Open. In Summer this year, the same locale will be stage to the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros). To arrange the open tournament in February, two deb socs work together: The Law Society and the Literary and Debating Society. The convenors Evelyn Whyms and Tara Gibbons expect about 80 teams in Febaruary. As chief adjudicators (CA), they engaged Ruth Faller, also CA at Euros in summer, and ...

This article is not available in English. In case you want to learn more about gossips on Magnus Schmagold or Benedikt Nufer, it's a definite must you read the German version of this bit!

The world keeps on turning, however, does not forget about the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) in Botswana. A US-American is mopping up after Worlds, a Botswanese is happy about the organization, another American is delighted about the results of IDAS teams and a German deb society covers the tournament. Steven M. Llano found certain things at Botswana Worlds pernicious, among which were a certain Black Eyed Peas song, the lack of fans, sleep deprivation as well as the word “pernicious” itself. On his Blog “Progymnasmata“, Achte Minute’s op-ed author Steven complained also about the lack of internet access ...

Let the competition begin: Two cities bid for hosting the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) 2012. The bidders are Leeds from the English county West Yorkshire and the Serbian captial Belgrade. In addition to that, there's an alleged bid from London's BPP Debating Society - rumour has it that this a hoax. Belgrade composed a prominent team. Convenor is Milan Vignjević. His bid is backed-up by the University of Belgrade. But he himself has gained a lot of experience as both debater and convenor: He broke to ESL qurters at Amsterdam Euros 2010 and is co-convenor of the Belgrade ...

This article is not yet available in English. Please read the German version to learn more about wine tasting, masquerade and ... uhm ... yes, debating and motions at ZEIT DEBATTE 2011 in Mainz. It was a great tournament with amazing socials. ...