The Vienna debaters from Debattierklub Wien (Stefan Zweiker, Rosie Halmi, Andreas Prischl, Jakob Reiter, Melanie Sindelar, Anna Nessmann and Andreas Villareal) release a case for overthinking the new reg reform which was discussed at this year's WUDC council. You can read their thoughts now exclusively on Achte Minute. Stances on the WUDC Reg Reform from an evolving society: How preferring societies in WUDC registration on basis of a break legacy puts back the debaters that train the hardest Executive summary The Reg Reform drives a painful thorn into the flesh of those debating societies who are working hard to reach their first break ...

At the World Debate Forum in Berlin 2013, debaters from across the world talked about using debating in tournaments, trainings and youth projects. In the opening speech, Doug Cochran presented “Ten suggestions for a better Worlds”. Among these points, he suggested to abloish or reform Points of Information during BP debates. As these thoughts might interest you aswell, Achte Minute asked Doug to write down his thoughts. Doug Cohran: Two Potential Reforms to Points of Information At the World Debating Forum, there was a discussion about potential reforms to WUDC debating. I put forward a number of suggestions, including abolition of points ...

[caption id="attachment_13785" align="alignright" width="300"] Diese Woche in der ZEIT: Eine ganzseitige Anzeige der WUDC. (Foto: Henrik Mädler)[/caption] The countdown is running: There are only seven days left until the opening ceremony of the World Universities Debating Championship in Berlin begins. While more than 800 speakers, 300 judges and 200 volunteers from all parts of the world will find their way to Berlin, Achte Minute will accompany this countdown with preliminary reports around the WUDC Berlin 2013. We start with a text from Matthias Winkelmann which got published this week in a full page add in the mayor German newspaper „DIE ZEIT“. ...

Please see the German version to get a fuller coverage of the media review. It's the first time the German language debating championship (Meisterschaft im deutschsprachigen Debattieren or MDD) is hosted outside Germany. The MDD is part of the ZEIT DEBATTEN series. Behind it are VDCH in cooperation with the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT, with the support of Deutsche Telekom and the media partner of a major public German broadcaster (ZDF). The series has been staged in alternating cities for more than a decade under the patronage of the former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt.

"Ein guter Jurist muss deutsch sprechen, nicht juristendeutsch!" - Roughly speaking, good legal practitioners need to know a language everybody understands. This is a claim by Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Wulf who works at the ministery of law in the German state of Baden Wurttemberg, he also is an honorary professor at the University of Tubingen. Some years ago, he established soft skill courses dealing with law debates, something which is neglected in German jurisprudence curricula. Philipp Stiel, editor of the VDCH newsletter for a culture of debate in Germany, talked to Prof. Wulf. Currently the interview is not available in ...

Philipp Stiel, Vice President of the VDCH, the umbrella Association of Debating Societies at Universities (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy), reports from Berlin where on Sept. 14, 2011, the first public IQ²-Debate took place. ...

Deutschlandradio interviewed Marcus Ewald, vice president of the umbrella organization Association of Debating Societies at Universities (VDCH or Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen). To read what Marcus has to say on speaking in public, see the online version of the interview. xzy / apf

Learn about what the media in Germany and beyond have to say about the German Debating Championship, or Deutsche Debattiermeisterschaft (DDM) 2011. Please read the German version of this bit. Find the tabs of DDM online: The one after prelims and the final tab. ...

This article ist only available in german language. Don't hesitate to read the original version. ...

The german weekly, DER SPIEGEL, reports in its online edition on the FLTRP Cup in Beijing, China. Thanks to Michael Shapira the Achte Minute is able to provide the full set of topics debated in Beijing. Michael Shapira wons this year’s World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) at Gaborone, Botswana in the category “English as a Second Language” (ESL) and judged in Beijing. ...

This article is not available in English, please read the German version of this article. ...

More impressions from the German regionals. Please read the German version of this article to learn more about what debating societies in Heidelberg, Mainz, Bremen and Tübingen have to say about their respective competitions and how the media in the Brandenburgian capital Potsdam cheer for the winners of the Eastern German regional. Der Westen even discusses the problem of minors breaking to the final - they are students from a school in Unna. glx / apf ...

Please read the German version of this article to learn more about what both the press and deb socs have to say about the Northern, Eastern and Western German regionals. glx / apf ...

Why not marry your dog? Eva-Maria Risse, a former schools and university debater (DC Heidelberg and DC München), explains how she once debated a motion that suggested this. The renowned newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) interviewed her on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of "Jugend debattiert", German language schools debating. Please read the German version of this article for a ful cover-up on the interview. xzy / tr / glx / apf ...

Please find here the cover-ups we have gathered for you on the German regionals. Please do not hesitate to read the German version of this article. There you may learn more on what the press writes about the Western German regional (WDM) as well as what debating societies like DK Wien and DC Freiburg have to say about this year's Southern German regional in Bayreuth. Oliver Hörtensteiner, the tabmaster of this year's Southern German regional put the tab of the competition online. You may also find the tab of WDM 2011 online. glx / apf ...

Debaters from Mainz taught a debating class in a secondary school in Sulzbach (Germany), this time for the second time. Their commitment is based on a cooperation between the Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium and the debating society in Mainz, Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg. ...

In the German newspaper Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Jan Lüken, president of the umbrella organization of german language debating societies, Association of Debating Societies at Universities (VDCH), analyzed the rhetoric of candidates from the German federal state Baden-Württemberg. State elections, Landtagswahl, are just around the corner and will take place on Sunday. Please read the german version of his statements. tr / apf

We are sorry, this article is not available in English.

You may get the Debattierklub Wien's view on their great and first-ever Vienna IV by reading their article "Vienna IV - The full Story". And if you are able to understand German, do not hesistate to get Vienna-IV-tabmaster Jakob Reiter's view on debating by reading an interview by viennarama.at.

Magdeburg boasts to be a particularly active "student city". To prove this, some of the students are beeing interviewed from time to time. This time this is Jan Dirk Capelle who studies "philosophy-neuroscience-cognition" and helds the presidency of the local debating society. ...

While the suspended "Dr." (the German doctoral degree, equivalent to Ph.D.) of the German minister of defence is a hot media topic in Germany, the regional newspaper "Donaukurier" reported on two doctoral students at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. One of the interviewees is Jan Lüken, currently president of the umbrella organization VDCH. He is writing his thesis at the Faculty of Economics in Ingolstadt. ...

This article is not available in English. Please read the German version of this article to see what various debating societies say about the IV in Stuttgart! https://www.achteminute.de/?p=8412 ...

Just founded a few days ago, the Duisburg Debating Society has already got an article in a big regional newspaper, the WAZ Westdeutsche Allgemeine. Jörn Hahn, one of the founder of the society, spoke about debating in general and how a debate is well performed.  ...

We're sorry, this piece is not available in English. Please read the German version of this article to learn more about what deb socs from Stuttgart and Vienna have to say on Botswana Worlds 2011 and what Berliner Zeitung reports on the Berlin Debating Union, the future host of Worlds 2013. ...

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".

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! ...

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. ...

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! ...