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Convenor's Welcome
To our visitors from across the world,
It gives us great pleasure to invite you to the Vehbi Koç World Universities Debating Championships held in Antalya, Turkey from the 27th December 2009 to 4th January 2010. We will come together to celebrate the 30th round of a Championship that brings together bright minds from every continent on Earth. We can assure you that we will do everything in our power to ensure that you have great time in our beautiful country and that the quality of debating is first class.
We are excited by what lies ahead. The Koç University has already hosted the European Universities Debating Championships in 2007 but Worlds is different in every way. We know that we will need to work with each and every one of you to make the Championships work. In that spirit, we hope that you get in touch with us with questions large and small. We have already made an effort to include as many non-Turkish members of our OrgComm as possible so that we can use their expertise and experience.
Before we sign off we would like to talk about what the Championships are really about - debating. We are involved in an activity that changes people and helps spread the principles of freedom of speech and critical thought. Turkish debating has improved massively over the last five years and we are committed to help other nations in our region to become a part of our already global community. We would like to thank you again for entrusting us with debating's most prestigious tournament.
We will do everything to repay that trust.
  Fatih Mehmet inal Suleyman Onay
Co-Convenor Co-Convenor
Welcome To WUDC 2010
Welcome to WUDC 2010!
The World Universities Debating Championships are celebrating their thirtieth birthday. Just 43 teams from 7 nations competed in Glasgow at the first Worlds in 1981. Since then, the tournament has expanded and changed beyond all recognition.
Worlds now welcomes over 300 teams from around 60 countries. It has moved beyond the early strongholds in the British Isles, North America and Australasia to host championships in South Africa, Greece, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and now Turkey. It recognises the achievements of English as a Second Language and English as a Foreign Language speaker. It is governed by a democratic Council representing every single attending country. Worlds is a truly global event.
The first Worlds I attended was at Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 1997. It was an extraordinary experience for a first-year undergraduate, with braais, a superb comedy night, traditional dancing, socials in the sun and a well-run tournament using computerised tabulation. It was also the first modern Worlds: the first held under standardised British Parliamentary rules, the first with Deputy Chief Adjudicators providing outside expertise, the Worlds where verbal feedback to speakers and the n-1 rule ensuring quality adjudication were first agreed.
We are custodians of a mature institution. The purpose of Worlds, as set out in Article 3 of the WUDC Constitution, is a noble one: the promotion of debate, the free exchange of ideas, international contact and co-operation, and the enjoyment of participants. The strength of our Worlds format is its consistency. For fifteen years, Worlds has used the same rules. Tens of thousands of speeches have been delivered and appraised according to the same standard criteria. Fifteen years of consistency have enabled us to harness experience and develop expertise, making Worlds style the fastest growing medium for debate on the planet.
I hope you enjoy playing your part in this extraordinary story. On behalf of Worlds Council, I welcome you to WUDC 2010 and wish you a wonderful time in Turkey.
-- Neill Harvey-Smith Chair, World Universities Debating Council
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