The UAB to host the Xarxa Vives University Debate League

30/03/2022

From 30 March to 7 April the UAB will play host to the final phases of the High School Debate League and the University Debate League. The debates will focus on whether limits should be put on science ("Cal posar límits a la ciència?”) and whether state-run pharmaceuticals are need in the European Union (“És necessària una indústria farmacèutica pública a la Unió Europea?”). The inauguration of the high school debate will be on 30 March at 3.30 p.m. and the competition itself will begin at 5 p.m., with a final debate being held on 1 April at 1 p.m. The university debate will be inaugurated on 4 April at 12 noon, and the debate will begin at 12:45 p.m., with the final debate occurring on 7 April at 3 p.m. All debates will take place at the UAB Theatre Hall and at the UAB Graduate School.

For over a decade, the UAB has participated in the Xarxa Vives debate leagues, and has even won the competition in three different years: 2013, 2015 and 2019. The debate culture is highly consolidated on campus, thanks to the Grup d’Argumentació i Debat UAB, a group of students specialising in participating in academic debates and teaching oratory, as well as other debate-related activities.

The objective of these debate leagues is to spend a week debating on a controversial and current events issue with the aim of fostering the use of speech and strengthening abilities such as teamwork, reasoning in front of a public, and interacting with students from other teaching centres and universities.

In this competition, prizes are given to the champions, the runner-ups and to the best speaker of each of these teams. The university league includes cash prizes of 2,500 to 300 euros, and the high school league cash prize run from 1,500 to 300 euros, to be used to buy school material.

Organising the debate leagues is one of the action undertaken this year by UAB Rector Javier Lafuente, as president of the Xarxa Vives network, a non-profit institution that represents and coordinates the joint actions of 22 universities. Rector Lafuente took over in March from the until then president and rector of the University of the Balearic Islands, Jaume Carot Giner, as new president of the Xarxa Vives d’Universitats. The organisation of the leagues at the UAB is carried out by the Community Involvement Unit.

UAB high school debate team

The team from the secondary school centre Manyanet Sant Andreu, winners of the local edition of the 8th High School Debate League of the Xarxa Vives d’Universitats at the UAB, which took place from 21 to 25 February, will be representing the UAB this year. Team members include Amàlia Alòs, Esteban del Campo, Ingrid Fernández, Marina Regaña and Javier Hernández (captain). The team won after debating with some 20 other secondary schools on the subject of limits on science. The final competition will take place from 30 March to 1 April at the UAB Theatre Hall.

UAB debate team

The university debate team representing the UAB is made up of Caterina Sabán, Samir Rezali, Denís Montoya, Laia López, Gerard Prats and Marc Oriol Crespí, who won the local edition of the UAB 2022 University Debate League, which took place from 28 February to 3 March at the UAB Theatre Hall. The team will be representing the UAB in the final phase of the Xarxa Vives d’Universitats league from 4 to 7 April, where they will go up against other university teams. In the local phase, fifteen different teams debated on the need for a publicly run pharmaceutical industry in the European Union.

Xarxa Vives

This year, the Xarxa Vives will launch the first Senior Debate League, a pilot plan aimed at students over 50 interested in the art of debating. This third modality will focus on the question of whether public authorities should control media channels (“Cal que el poder públic controli els mitjans de comunicació?).

For more information please visit the following websites:

Xarxa Vives d'Universitats (in Catalan)

Blog of the UAB Debate League (in Catalan)

UAB participation (in English)

This information is related to the following SDG

• Quality education