Debate tournament on recovery and reforms in UzhNU
Debate is a unique opportunity to develop democracy, deliberation and teamwork skills. The tradition of holding the tournament was formed at UzhNU 13 years ago, and the teams have repeatedly been among the top three at the national level. The event is organized by the All-Ukrainian Initiative “Active Community” in Uzhhorod together with the Center for Sustainable Development and the Faculty of History and International Relations of UzhNU, and is held in the format of British debates.
The goal is to organize a public discussion on political reforms and current challenges in Ukraine's political development. The event is aimed at raising the level of knowledge about political reforms, developing debating skills, critical thinking, reasoned expression of one's own position, effective refutation of opponents' arguments, and finding possible solutions to pressing problems.
At the beginning of the event, Myroslava Lendiel, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, was invited to speak: “Now we have a good opportunity to conduct additional activities. Debate is one of the highlights of our university, and I am very glad that there are many people here who started it. First of all, it is Hanna Ihorivna, who 13 years ago brought this idea that let's do something like many Western universities do.” Mrs. Myroslava wished the players success and emphasized that winning the debate determines the most convincing team for the jury at that moment, which does not mean that the others are worse. The main thing is to gain experience, put your skills into practice, and have fun.
Maria Marusynets, Director of the Department of Education and Science of the Zakarpattia Regional Military State Administration, emphasized that she was pleased to see such activity among young people, as it is important that they strive to change and improve our society and environment.
The next speaker was the Dean of the Faculty of History and International Relations, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor Vitalii Andreiko: “I am sure that each of you will be able to show good logic, erudition and competence today. We really hold a lot of events for young people that develop not only the theoretical and basic knowledge that you get in textbooks, manuals, on the Internet, but also the ability to debate, prove your opinion, be confident, be able to convince someone of your position, and so on. Therefore, I wish you good debates, I wish the judges, as I have already said, to be objective, and I wish us all a quick victory!”
Among the esteemed jury were Larysa Yurychka, a representative of the Natural Sciences and Humanities College of UzhNU, PhD, Associate Professor of the Department of Theory and History of State and Law of the Faculty of Law, Adrianna Badyda, Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Nadiya Kichera, Head of the Department of International Relations, PhD, Oksana Svezhentseva, PhD in Sociology, Associate Professor of the Department of Journalism at the Faculty of Philology Natalia Tolochko, and Halyna Hychka, a journalist from the online magazine Varosh.
The debate was attended by 8 teams, with 2 participants in each. Before the debate, one of the team members pulled out a piece of paper with the venue of the competition and whose interests he would be defending. As a result, there were 8 people in two auditoriums, the first half being the government and the second half being the opposition.
Three topics for discussion were chosen by drawing lots before each stage:
- promoting youth involvement in the political life of the country;
- Implementation of educational reforms that meet the challenges of the digital age;
- ensuring access to quality mental health services for young people.
After two fierce rounds, where participants took turns expressing and defending their side's opinion, the finalists were the teams Actual Thought, Justice Debaters, Themis, and Agents of Influence.
The eight strongest players faced off in a joint Round 3, which determined who would represent our region at the national competition. According to the calculations, the third place was won by the “Debaters of Justice”, the second place was taken by two teams - “Actual Thought” and “Themis”, and the gold was won by the “Agents of Influence”.
The organizers and sponsors prepared gifts for the active participants and winners.
