The World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) is the largest international debating tournament. The first WUDC took place in Glasgow in 1981. Back then, 43 teams from seven nations participated. This year, more than 400 teams from all continents compete for the title of World Debating Champion. The WUDC 2015 will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is hosted by The Debate Society of the Universiti Technologiki Mara, one of the largest universities in Malaysia. The tournament starts on December 26^th and lasts until January 3^rd.

The organisers published the following video:

Adjudication Team

Chief Adjudicators (CAs) of the Malaysia Worlds will be John Leader Maynard and Shafiq Bazari.

John Leader Maynard of Oxford was a WUDC top speaker and two-time WUDC Grand Finalist. He won the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC) and was EUDC top speaker. His experience as a CA includes Amsterdam EUDC 2010, the Oxford IV, and other tournaments.

Shafiq Bazari is a member of the UT Mara Debate Society and renowned in the Asian Debating Circuit. He was on the Adjudication Core of the BIPEDS Asian BP Championship 2012 and the United Asian Debating Championship 2013. As a speaker, he broke in all Asian-level debating championships of the last four years and holds several Malaysian championship titles.

Deputy Chief Adjudicators (DCAs) are Danique Van Koppenhagen, Sebastian Templeton, Engin Arikan, Brett Frazer, and Madeline Schultz.

Organising Committee

Mai Mokhsein is the Convener of the WUDC 2015. She is the President of the UT MARA Debate Society in the third consecutive year and Chair of the Asian BP Debating Council 2013. She was Co-Convenor of the National Novice Debating Championship 2010 and the ICRC International Humanitarian Law Debate in 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Ahmed Faris is the Deputy Convenor of the WUDC 2015. He is Vice President of UT MARA and was Convenor of the UT MARA Australs 2013. He is also the supervisor for all tournaments that run under UT MARA’s lapel.

Other members of the Organising Committee include Izzat Fauzan, Finance Director, Ain Aissa, Tournament Director, Elli Famira, Accomodation Director, Natasha, Socials Director, Muayyad, Liason and Welfare, Jainah Jaafar, Transportation Officer, Jasmine Ho, Transportation Officer, Emellia Shariff, Tournament Director, as well as Mifzal, Terence and Izzat Ariff, all Committee Members.

More information about the Organising Committee and its members can be found on the website of the Malaysia Worlds.

Tab Masters

Tab Masters of the WUDC 2015 will be Edwin “Clansman” Law, Co-creator of the 3tab tabbing software and tab masters at two previous Worlds, and Muhammad Abdul Latif, co-tab director at Manila Worlds and a WUDC Grand Final judge.

The Universiti Teknologiki Mara and the UT Mara Debate Society

The Universiti Teknologiki Mara (UiTM) was founded in 1956 and is the largest university in Malaysia. In total, it has around 172,000 students, with campuses and affiliated institutions all across Malaysia. The main campus, where the preliminary rounds are planned to take place, is located in Shah Alam, the capital of the state of Selangor, a 20 minute drive from the capital Kuala Lumpur.

According to the organisers, the UiTM will support WUDC 2015 in several ways. The university will cover transportation costs to and from the airport, provide the debating venue and all social venues, and help with the organisation of the tournament.

The UT MARA Debate Society was established in 1998 and now has about 100 members. It is the best-performing Malaysian institution in the international debating circuit and regularly hosts several tournaments per year.

Malaysia

Malaysia is located in South-East Asia and has a population of 27,5 million people, who speak 41 different languages. It is generally considered a safe and stable country and frequently ranks high in different rankings of happy, friendly and peaceful countries.

Ethnically, Malaysia is quite diverse, being home to Malays, Chinese, Indians, and many smaller ethnicities that contribute to a rich cultural heritage. Malaysia is home to UNESCO world heritage sites like Penang and Malaka and offers a large variety of flora and fauna, food, architecture, art, and cultural festivals. The climate is warm and tropical all year. According to the organisers though, all venues and accommodation facilities will be air-conditioned. The Website of the Malaysia Worlds lists possible touristic destinations.

Coming to Malaysia

The Malaysia WUDC Organising Committee agreed with the One World Alliance to make them the official airline of WUDC 2015. Successfully registered participants can use a special promotional code to receive discounts ranging from 5 to 25 percent for return tickets at the following airlines:

• Malaysia Airlines
• British Airways
• American Airlines
• Qatar Airways
• Qantas
• Cathay Pacific
• Japan Airlines
• Air Berlin
• Finnair
• Iberia
• LAN Airlines
• Royal Jardanian
• S7 Airlines

In order to receive assistance with the discount process or with any other issues related to travelling, participants can contact the travel officer at travel [at] malaysiaworlds2015 [dot] com.

Adjudication Policies

On the Malaysia Worlds Website, details for the Adjudication policies are outlined. The organisers and CAs plan to

1. Expand the debating and judging briefings
2. Revitalise Worlds Masters in order to practice judging
3. Develop coaching sessions for debaters and judges
4. Improve judges rotation and create a public top judges tab based on debater feedback
5. Improve the feedback monitoring software to improve judge allocation
6. Increase judges rotation
7. Spend USD 65,000 to subsidise between 50 and 70 independent judges.

Independent Adjudicators Application

There are two rounds of application for Independent Adjudicators. The deadline for the first round ended on June 24^th. A second round of application opens in September. Both new applications and applications of those who did not receive an offer in the first round in June will be considered. According to the organisers, the application is not only for those who want to request financial support, but also for those who come as self-funded adjudicators.

More information will be posted regularly on the Malaysia Worlds facebook page. Any questions can be sent to adjcore [at] malaysiaworlds2015 [dot] com.

Further information

For further enquiries, people may contact Mai Mokhsein at convenor [at] malaysiaworlds2015 [dot] com. Resources for more information are the Malaysia Worlds Website, the WUDC 2015 event page on facebook and the Twitter account @MalaysiaWorlds. Other e-mail addresses that can be used for questions are registration [at] malaysiaworlds2015 [dot] com and malaysiaworlds2015 [at] gmail [dot] com.

Overview

• Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Date: Dec 26^th 2014 – Jan 3^rd 2015
• Current number of teams: 410
• Current number of judges: 233
• Institutional team cap: 3 teams and 2 judges per institution
• Registration Fee: € 380
• Accommodation: All participants will be accommodated in the Berjaya Times Square Hotel Kuala Lumpur, a five star hotel in the middle of Kuala Lumpur. The hotel is connected to the 13^th largest shopping mall in the world.
• Debating Venue: The preliminary rounds will take place in a newly built UT MARA campus located in Puncak Alam, near Kuala Lumpur. According to the organisers, all debate rooms will be air-conditioned and can be accessed without leaving the building.
• Scholarships: 60 participants from nations with underdeveloped debate circuits who would otherwise not have had the opportunity to attend WUDC were selected to receive a WUDC scholarship grant. This includes subsidies of registration fees and travel costs, access to a pre-WUDC Debating Workshop, and a pre-Worlds tournament, the Kuala Lumpur Open Challenge 2014.

nbo/hug