Participation of the School of Asian Studies team in Qatar Debates-2024
The Russia team, represented by the students of the Asian and African Studies program, took part in the international championship in Arabic “Qatar Debate” in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
From May 25 to 29 this year, the Russian team, represented by students of the Asian and African Studies program of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs of the HSE University, took part in the international championship in Arabic “Qatar Debate” in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Such relevant topics as integration of refugees into the host country's economy, financing of state media, influence of environmental movements on the state policy, etc. were proposed for discussion.
During the championship, the HSE team debated the Arabic-speaking teams from Qatar, Yemen, Jordan, Kuwait and the USA, as well as the team from Vietnam. In the matches against the Yemeni, American and Vietnamese teams our team won by unanimous decision of the judges. The matches against Jordanian and Kuwaiti teams were very emotional and tense. In both cases, the opponents won by a split decision of the judges. The debates against last year's champions, the University of Texas at Qatar, were particularly interesting. The Qataris demonstrated outstanding skills in the art of debate and managed to pick up the win. Nevertheless, the judges invariably noted the high level of the Russian students' Arabic, as well as the excellent interaction within the team, which allowed them to compete on equal terms with the representatives of Arab countries who were debating in their native language.
Despite the fierce competition, there was a friendly atmosphere on the court. At the end of the rounds, recent rivals became friends: they shook hands, took pictures, discussed the debates and supported each other during the championship.
After the official part of the event, the students went to Qatar University, where they met with teachers from the Center for Teaching Arabic to Foreigners and attended a concert of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.
Egor Babanchikov, 4th year student
Participating in the Qatar Debate Championship was a priceless experience for all of us. During these few days we have made noticeable progress in debating in Arabic, really bonded as a team, met like-minded people and simply had a great time. The excitement of waiting for the announcement of the topic, discussing arguments on the way to the audience, heated debates and friendly conversations with opponents - we will miss it all.
Anton Klyuev, 5th year student
The debates gave me the opportunity to realize how well I can speak Arabic. This is despite the fact that I had a good opinion of myself before. In addition to discovering my own potential, the debates gave me a chance to meet a huge number of people who are as passionate about Arabic as I am. Needless to say, the value of such acquaintances is great. The competitions were also useful from a purely practical point of view, because the format of speech construction adopted there is the most correct in all other types of disputes.
Vadim Voznyuk, 3rd year student
Participation in the debates was quite a spontaneous decision for us, but despite this, we were able to prepare well and show a decent result with three victories. Of course, it was a great chance for us to get acquainted with a new format of dialog in Arabic - debates. The debate platform was able to bring together hundreds of Arabists from different parts of the world. Therefore, it was a unique opportunity for us to get acquainted and communicate with our foreign colleagues. It is noteworthy that despite the competitive spirit, at the end of the matches the teams always shared their impressions in a friendly manner and exchanged contacts for further communication in the future.
We thank the leadership of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs for supporting the participation of the School of Asian Studies team in this round of Qatar Debates!