President University Team that consists of Rendy Utomo (International Relations) and Ni Putu Andini Siddi Pratiwi (International Relations) had participated in the World University Debate Championship (WUDC) 2020 in Bangkok on 27 December 2019 – 4 January 2020.
In their world’s biggest debate tournament debut, Rendy managed to snatch the 25th Best Speaker position in the English as Foreign Language (EFL) category among the 144 speakers competing in that category. Meanwhile, Andin managed to secure the 55th position within the same category.
WUDC is the biggest international debate tournament in the world joined by various prestigious universities, among others Harvard University, Oxford University, London School of Economics and Political Science, Monash University. The participants in this competition are grouped into three categories based on their English proficiency namely Main Category where the participants come from countries that speak English as their mother language, English as Second Language (ESL), and English as Foreign Language (EFL).
Rendy and Andin said that it was not easy for them to reach that position. In the first round, the two of them faced one of the top contestants, Oxford University. “During the preliminary round, the participating teams didn’t compete based on their category. That’s why we faced against Oxford debating team in the same round even though we belong to different categories,” Rendy explained. Even though they did not win the round against Oxford University, the two debaters agreed that their debut in WUDC is a good start for President University Team to make their come back in the upcoming WUDC. Rendy stated that “We gained valuable knowledge from this competition, among others on how to shape s strategic framing and deliver effective arguments.”
Not yet satisfied with his current achievement, Rendy and Andin are committed to actively participate in other debate tournaments, be it as the adjudicators, debaters, or as a coach to share their experience and knowledge to young debaters.