United Asian Debating Championships

The United Asian Debating Championship (UADC) is an annual debating tournament for teams from universities in Asia. It is the largest inter-varsity Parliamentary Debate tournament in Asia,[1] with over 600 participants. The UADC holds debates in the Asian 3-on-3 format Parliamentary Debating. The 1st UADC was hosted by Assumption University, Bangkok in 2010.[1]

The UADC was created after a decision to merge the two separate championships that were held after the Asian Debating community split in 2005 - the Asian Universities Debating Championship (AUDC) and the All-Asian Intervarsity Debating Championships (AIDC or "All-Asians"). The decision to unite the two competing tournaments, and thus, create a single debate championship for Asia was taken at the last Asian Universities Debating Championships in 2009.

Origin

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Arising out of a unification of the Asian Universities Debating Championship as well as the All-Asian Intervarsity Debating Championships, UADC represents the results of efforts to bridge the schism that emerged in Asian debating.

Institutions who were unhappy about aspects of the organisation of the All-Asian Intervarsity Debating Championships established the Asian Universities Debating Championship in 2005 as an alternative to the All-Asians Championship.[2] Since then, many universities in Asia with strong debating traditions – most notably universities from the Philippines and Singapore, including all except one of the institutions who won the All-Asian championships up to 2004 – had chosen not to participate in the All-Asian Intervarsity Championships and have instead entered teams in the Asian Universities Debating Championship.

While not necessarily intended to be a rival tournament, the last three AUDCs coincided with the schedule of the All-Asian Championship, which made it impractical for teams to attend both tournaments.

After many overtures, including a proposal to have an Asian Unity Tournament in Multimedia University, Malaysia,[3] which was not accepted by the AUDC Council, it was agreed that the All-Asian Universities would attend the AUDC Championships held in 2009 in Dhaka hosted by East West University. It was decided here in Council that the two tournaments would unite in the next edition, and the name of this new tournament would be the United Asian Debating Championships.

The Union

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The Union that decided the unification was chaired by Estelle Osorio from De La Salle University. The next chair, Vikram Balasubramanian of Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, was elected in the same union meeting.

The 1st United Asians Debate Championship was hosted by Assumption University, Thailand. Dino de Leon of De La Salle University chaired the Union meetings as acting chair. Sharmila Parmanand of Ateneo de Manila University was elected as the chair for year 2010–2011.

Format of the event

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The UADC, like the AUDC and the All-Asians, is held annually in May, but was later transferred in June due to the academic calendar change. The competition involves eight preliminary rounds, which become power-paired as the tournament progresses, matching the strongest-performing teams against each other.

The preliminary rounds are followed by a "break" announcement, at which the teams proceeding to elimination rounds are announced. Separate breaks are announced for English as Foreign language (EFL) team competition. 16 teams proceed to octo-finals. While preliminary rounds are usually judged by up to three judges, break rounds are judged by panels of five or seven, and the finals by a panel of nine.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the 2020 edition of UADC was the first ever Digital UADC, it was hosted by the Bangladesh Debating Council with the support of Independent University Bangladesh & Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka.

Past tournaments

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Year Champions Runners-up EFL Winners Hosts
2024   Nanyang Technological University   University of the Philippines Diliman   Macau University of Science and Technology   Malaysian Institute for Debate and Public Speaking and Berjaya University College
2023   Ateneo de Manila University   Ateneo de Manila University   Hankuk University of Foreign Studies   Intertext Education
2022   Ateneo de Manila University   Tribhuvan University   Peking University   Malaysian Institute for Debate and Public Speaking and Taylor's University
2021   University of Malaya   University of Tokyo   Hankuk University of Foreign Studies   EduDrift
2020   Ateneo de Manila University   Taylor's University   Institut Teknologi Bandung   Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka and Independent University, Bangladesh
2019   Ateneo de Manila University   Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka   Binus University   Vinschool and Vietnam National University, Hanoi - International School
2018   Independent University, Bangladesh   Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka   Binus University   Institut Teknologi Bandung
2017   National University of Singapore   Ateneo de Manila University   Institut Teknologi Bandung   SpringBoard4Cambodia
2016   International Islamic University Malaysia   Universiti Teknologi MARA   Universitas Gadjah Mada   Assumption University[4]
2015   International Islamic University Malaysia   Universiti Teknologi MARA   Universitas Gadjah Mada   Udayana University and Bina Nusantara University[5]
2014   Nanyang Technological University   International Islamic University Malaysia   Universitas Gadjah Mada   Nanyang Technological University
2013   University of the Philippines Diliman   National University of Singapore   Institut Teknologi Bandung   University of the Philippines Diliman and Ateneo de Manila University
2012   Nanyang Technological University   Ateneo de Manila University   Bina Nusantara University   Multimedia University[6]
2011   National University of Singapore   University of the Philippines Diliman   Bakrie University   University of Macao[7]
2010   Ateneo de Manila University   Nanyang Technological University   Institut Teknologi Bandung   Assumption University[4]

Best Speakers of the Tournament

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Year Speaker University
2024 Ian Dylan Chai[8] National University of Singapore (Singapore)
2023 Mikko Vitug[9] Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines)
2022 David Demitri Africa[10] Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines)
2021 Irene Dela Cruz[11] Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines)
2020 Kanan Ishizaka, Sajid Khandaker[12] University of Tokyo (Japan), Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka (Bangladesh)
2019 Mikaela Filoteo Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines)
2018 Mikaela Filoteo and Katrina Chan Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines)
2017 Andrei Buendia, Sajid Khandaker Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines), Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka (Bangladesh)
2016 Mubarrat Wassey International Islamic University Malaysia (Malaysia)
2015 Syed Saddiq International Islamic University Malaysia (Malaysia)[5]
2014 Mai Mokhsein Universiti Teknologi MARA (Malaysia)
2013 Imran Rahim National University of Singapore (Singapore)
2012 Pearl Simbulan University of the Philippines Diliman (Philippines)
2011 Imran Rahim National University of Singapore (Singapore)

Future tournaments

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  • 2020 – Online from Bangladesh

References

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  1. ^ a b "About the UADC". MMU UADC. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  2. ^ "Invitation to the First AUDC". Archived from the original on July 8, 2012. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
  3. ^ MMU Unity Bid Document
  4. ^ a b "Assumption UADC 2010". UADC 2010. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  5. ^ a b Dina Murad (12 June 2015). "IIUM debate team is Asia's best". The Star Online. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  6. ^ Amjad, Saad bin. "UADC 2012". Saad bin Amjad. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  7. ^ Amjad, Saad bin. "UADC 2011". Saad bin Amjad. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  8. ^ "Malaysia UADC 2024 | Speaker Tab". malaysiauadc2023.calicotab.com. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  9. ^ "Malaysia UADC 2023 | Speaker Tab". malaysiauadc2023.calicotab.com. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  10. ^ "UADC 2022 Speaker Tab".
  11. ^ "UADC 2021 Speaker Tab". Archived from the original on 2021-10-24. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
  12. ^ "BD UADC 2020 Speaker Tab".
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  • All UADC motions here