Qatar daily The Peninsula reported that the fifth International Universities Debating Championship organised by QatarDebate, a member of Qatar Foundation (QF) is being held under the patronage of HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, the Vice-Chairman and CEO of Qatar Foundation.
The championship is held under the slogan ‘Dialogue, Debate, and Diplomacy’ aiming at contributing towards spreading the art of debate and the cultural exchange of participants.
“The championship is an opportunity to learn and practice the Arabic language, which is fast becoming a language of research, literature and creativity,” said Dr Hayat Maarafi Executive Director, QatarDebate, addressing the opening ceremony of the championship at the Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC).
She also highlighted the benefits of debating such as learning critical thinking and well-reasoned communication.
Around 600 people including debaters, judges, trainers and others are participating in the five-day championship. Among the debating teams, 15 are native Arabic-speakers and 37 are non-Arabic speakers.
“Debating in Arabic is challenging, we love the challenge and we hope to do the best,” Noor Al Dhulaimi, spokesperson of the team from the University of Utah in the US said.
She and her teammates doing a major in Middle East studies were inspired by that to take part in the championship.
“We were preparing for the championship since November. It is important to know the art of convincing others and being excepting others ideas, debating in a way that is civil,” said Noor, who is a native of Iraq and familiar with the Arabic language.
This year, six teams are participating from Qatar, including two from Community College of Qatar, two from the Qatar University, one from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar(CMU-Q) and one representing the Police Academy.
Preliminary round one and two of the championship were held yesterday (March 16), while round three to five will be held today.
(Image source: Qatar Debate)
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