“Embracing Dissent“ is the motto of the WUDC Berlin 2013 – “We believe this reflects the enlightening and liberating clash of ideas that shaped European and German history - and, of course, what makes debate relevant and exciting”, the Facebook site of WUDC Berlin 2013 announced. No doubt, there is a natural dissent between the fractions of a parliamentary debate. Yet, there might also be dissent during the preparatory phase of the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds), for instance in a heated debate about the motto. However, consent was the motto when now WUDC convenor Patrick Ehmann travelled the ...

Wanted: Your ideas and your money! Contribute the first at the WUDC 2013 Forum in Jena during the ZEIT DEBATTE tournament, akquire the latter through helping the Org Comm find sponsors for the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds). Read the German version of this article to learn more about how the umbrella association VDCH and the WUDC org comm of Patrick Ehmann cooperate to make Worlds an all-German event. More detailed info is also available from Benedikt Nufer, vice-president of the VDCH, via benedikt.nufer@vdch.de and from Patrick himself via p.ehmann@wudcberlin.com. For sponsoring, turn to Torsten Rössing via t.roessing@wudcberlin.com. Die ...

Take me to Manila! A first bunch of debating societies from under the umbrella of VDCH know for sure already: We are going to DLSU Worlds in Manila. In the recently published list, the convenors of the World Debating Universities Championships (WUDC or Worlds) at De La Salle University of Manila, Philippines have announced those deb socs followed their slogan “Take me to Manila”. It is a rough list of registration for DLSU Worlds only, containing many duplicates. But still, seven debating societies from the VDCH circuit made it to that list: Debattierclub Stuttgart, Berlin Debating Union, Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz, ...

“Oxbridge“ among the top ten debating societies of the world? Of course, one may assume to find those two oldest deb socs in that list – but who else is to be listed there? Colm Flynn, former chair of the WUDC Council, is the founder and editor of the internet blog World Debating Website. There he has published his “Worlds Debating Rankings 2011“. According to this, the top ten comprises four Australian institutions and only two English ones – Oxford and Cmabridge Unions. Even an institution from the Philippines is listed among them. The most successful debating society from under ...

Not an April fools’ joke, seriously: On April 1, registration for the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) starts. Be sure to have all your info ready for registration at 10 a.m. sharp Philippine Standard Time, that is +8 GMT, Greenwich Mean Time, since the DLSU Worlds – named after the De La Salle University – will be held in Manila, Philippines in December and January. For debaters in London that means they will have to fill in the registration form at 2 in the morning. But also debaters from other places will have to get up early to ...

The team of DLSU Worlds 2012 is now consolidated: With Joe Roussos from the South African University of Witwatersrand, the adjudication team of Sam Block and Lucinda David grew even stronger than before: Besides Joe, their deputies at the World Universities Debating Championships at De La Salle University of Manila, Philippines are Cormac Early (USA), Tim Mooney (Australia), Masako Suzuki (Japan) und Art Ward (Great Britain/Ireland). In 2010, Joe was chief adjudicator at the Pan-African Universities Debating Championships (PAUDC) in Namibia, he is South African champion and secretary to the WUDC Council. At “Wits”, he masters in physics while an undergraduate ...

Revelations of a great debater mind – or so he denies to be. Achte Minute was talking to Michael Shapira who won this year’s World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) at Gaborone, Botswana in the category “English as a Second Language” (ESL) together with his team mate Meir Yarom. The Israeli from the University of Haifa did not hesitate to reveal his strategy to us. Read how his friends and his mom celebrated him and where to meet him this year. Achte Minute: Dear Michael, congrats for winning the ESL title at the Worlds in early January. Being back home ...

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. ...

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.

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 ...

Countdown: 341 days to go until De La Salle University (DLSU) Worlds 2012 kick-off in manila, Philippines.It was not until recently that VDCH debaters have returned from Gaborone, Botswana where they were taking part in this year’s World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds). Still, if you are already desperately longing for next Worlds you may browse the websites of DLSU Worlds. There, the second issue of the Worlds Debate Magazine is available where the bids for WUDC 2013 are presented. Of course, our well informed and loyal readers know already that Berlin is going to host Worlds 2013. You want ...

The World Universities Debate Championships (WUDC or Worlds)have been held for the 31st time in a row. The first Worlds were staged in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1981. Back then, 43 teams from seven countriescompeted for the title, the registration fee was ten British Pound. The first WUDC winners back in 1981 were Steve Coughlan and Andrew Taylor from University of Toronto, Canada. Many English schools did not take part – they found Glasgow was too far away as is reported. Nota bene: The distance between London and Glasgow is 405 miles, or 650 kilometers. By the way, it was not ...

On his blog, Manos Moschopoulos compiled unofficial tabs for ESL and EFL respectively for the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds). He did so based on data provided by Leela Koenig, judge at Botswana Worlds, and the competition's language committee. So far, official ESL and EFL tabs have not yet been published by the adjudication team of CA Logandran Balavijendran. According to Manos’ compilation, a correction of the Top Five EFL Speakers has to be noted: “Simon Belak (Ljubljana C) and Andreas Lazar (Stuttgart A) are joint top EFL speakers (initially, they were announced as 2nd and 1st respectively),” Manos ...

Shout-outs from across the planet for the world debating champions: Media in Australia, Israel and Russia are applauding the teams from Monash and Haifa who won the grand final and ESL-final respectively in Botswana where the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) where staged over New Year’s Eve. But there is also rumour that miscalculations in the tab led to teams not breaking mistakenly. At abc.net, people are proud that Fiona Prowse and Victor Finkel from team Monash A took home the title of world debating champions. On top of that, other Aussie teams had eminent results too: “Australian students ...

The full tab of the World Universities Debating Championships 2011 has been made available online already! The CA team put it on the homepage of Botswana Worlds. Naturally, Achte Minute does have a focus on the results of  VDCH teams and speakers. Hence, to lighten the burden for you, our loyal readers, we compiled their results. ...

This article is a wrap-up of what German and international media write about the World Universities Debating Championships in Gaborone, Botswana. Please read the German version to learn about Israeli pride in their debaters, De Nederlands Debatbond and Justice Mothlabani's address to the debaters at Worlds. apf / glx ...

Debaters worldwide already are cheering about their teams at World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds): The Debattierclub Stuttgart (DCS) jubilates about a smooth start into 2011, the Israeli Debating League compliment their Israeli debaters on their results and the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT interviewed Chinese debaters. ...

The term "Worlds" is used in its plural form because numerous winners have been awarded at Gaborone, Botswana last night. Foremost, the three best teams have to be mentioned who prevailed over the course of nine prelims. It is three best teams as there are three categories: "Open Break", "English as a Second Language" (ESL) and "English as a Foreign Language" (EFL). And the winners are ... Monash A from Australia, Haifa A from Israel and Tokyo B from Japan. There were about 300 teams from all over the globe competing for the title, 32 of which made it to ...

There’s a whole bunch of new world champions: Team Monash A from Australia won the grand final of the open break of the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds). That is Victor Finkel und Fiona Prowse. In the category English as a Second Language (ESL), Michael Shapira and Meir Yarom of team Haifa A from Israel defeated all other finalists. Then there is a third world champion team: Kazushige Yoshimaru and Yuki Tominaga of Tokyo B from Japan. All three winning teams triumphed from the position of opening government. The winners of the main break are experienced debaters: Victor was ...

The current president of the EUDC Council, Jens Henning Fischer, has been elected president of the WUDC Council in Botswana tonight. He succeeds Sam Greenland from Sydney, Australia in office. It was in July this year when Jens had been re-elected EUDC president at Euros in Amsterdam. Two offices at the same time? No, Jens revealed to Achte Minute, he will resign from his office as EUDC president and announce a successor after consulting the committee. On board of his WUDC team are Steven Johnson (Alaska, USA) and Simone van Elk from The Netherlands. Steven is the new registrar, Simone functions ...

Team Stuttgart A made it to ESL semis at World Universities Debating Championships in Botsuana. Congratulations to Michael Saliba and Andreas Lazar. Please read more on this in the German version of this article! apf / glx ...

One quarter of the teams of the ESL break are from Germany! That would make one German team in each room, one could think. But in final rounds, the tab is folded. That means that for instance room one assembles teams ranking on 1, 7, 8 and 16. Thanks to this folding, room three of the ESL qurter finals will see two German teams: Stuttgart A (Andreas Lazar and Michael Saliba) and Berlin B (Patrick Ehmann and Bastian Laubner). Other German teams in the quarters are Berlin B (Florian Umscheid and Dessislava Kirova) and Gutenberg A (Marcus Ewald and Marietta ...

Berlin has defeated Zagreb! The Council of delegates at the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) in Gaborone, Botswana, has made a decision: Berlin is going to host the Worlds 2013. The OrgComm around Patrick Ehmann (Berlin Debating Union) presented their bid successfully and got 87 vs 11 votes. Several hundred teams of two from all over the world plus judges and supporters are expected in the German capital around New Year’s Eve 2012/13 – these Worlds are going to be one of the biggest competitions in the WUDC series. On board with the Berlin based team are chief ...

That sure is a good start into the new year for VDCH country: Four German teams broke to ESL quarter finals of the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) in Gaborone. Here are the lucky ones: Stuttgart A, Michael Saliba, Andreas Lazar, 15 points Berlin B, Dessislava Kirova, Florian Umscheid, 14 points Gutenberg A (Mainz), Marcus Ewald, Marietta Gädeke, 14 points Berlin A, Bastian Laubner, Patrick Ehmann, 13 points Jens Henning Fischer and Isabelle Loewe broke as judges. The complete break was compiled by Stephen M. Llano on his Blog. The draws for the main break are available on Colm Flynn's  World Debating Website. Congratulations to ...

Breaking news from Botswana: Results of our VDCH teams after round 6 leaked from Gabs and we have it all here for our loyal readers. Colm Flynn provided photographs of the tab on his World Debating Website. So how are our German and Austrian teams doing in Gaborone? ...

Six preliminary rounds are over, night has fallen over Botswana. Tomorrow will bring three more pre-rounds at Worlds 2011. These are going to be closed rounds – no feedback and no info on the ranking will leak from the judges. Socials tonight feature a “culture night”. No more complaints about waiting and queuing are to be heard in Gaborone, but speculations on the ranking of teams and institutions. The teams of Debattierclub Stuttgart feel fine with their performance, Andreas C. Lazar reported this morning: “Gaborone, 32 degrees Celsius. Both Michael [Saliba] and I (Stuttgart A) as well as Jana [Gilke] and ...

This is an imperative: Keep your fingers crossed until New Year’s Day! This is when the WUDC Council is going to decide on who will be host of World Universities Debating Championships 2013. The Berlin Debating Union (BDU) have toured around Europe and probably still shake a lot of hands to show that they are the ones to do it! This Tuesday, they have already presented their bid at the Pre-Council Meeting in Botswana. In a letter addressed to the debate community worldwide, BDU president Patrick Ehmann explains that in the past decade the German debating circuit profited a lot from ...

And the evening and the morning were the fourth day of Botswana Worlds 2011. Participants in Gaborone had just registered when the motion of round four was announced: “This house believes that independent central banks should set limits on government spending.“ Is the org comm in better control of the schedule today? Last night’s talent show must have been great – our correspondent Henrik Maedler seems to have liked it a lot: “Last night was ‘Recreation/Talent Night‘. Never thought I'd get to see Jamaican song, Jewish rap, and Botswanan dance in one evening ... good fun!” And always an issue ...

And the evening and the morning were the third day of Botswana Worlds 2011. A delay usual for events of this size collided with today’s schedule. But after all, today brought on what all those hundreds of debaters came to Botswana for: The first three of a total of nine preliminary rounds were held today. But most of the day meant waiting for speakers as well as for judges – waiting for registration, waiting for debates to commence, waiting for meals. However, the atmosphere is still great, thanks to good weather and friendly supporters. Even those at home had to wait. ...

And the evening and the morning were the third day of Botswana Worlds 2011. People have just recovered from the ice breaking party when there are complaints about paranoia, the African heat and a belated adjudicators’ briefing – still more surprises for the international debating community from Worlds in Gaborone. However, the atmosphere is great thanks to good weather and friendly people all around, everybody appreciates. Henrik Maedler (Jacobs University Bremen Debating Society), being on his annual leave now in Botswana, felt followed around by his employer as a picture on “Your German Correspondent” proves. The Achte Minute editorial team sincerely ...