After three days of debates, the team formed by Olga Arias Patrón, José Vicente Blasco Blasco and Guillem Álvarez Torres as the captain has won the Internal Debate League of the Universitat de València. Meanwhile, Jordi Ferrer i Pardo won the prize for best speaker, and his team, formed by Sandra Berlanga Tovar and Pau Chaume Escolano, was runner-up.

The four participating teams debated with passion and commitment and demonstrated their communicative, argumentative and public speaking skills on this year’s topic of the Xarxa Vives Debate League: “Should we be tolerant with the intolerant?” They are students from the faculties of Philology, Translation and Communication; Economics; Medicine and Dentistry; Law; Physiotherapy; and Philosophy and Educational Sciences.

The jury assessing the development of the debates was made up of professors from the Universitat de València: Maria Pérez Viguer Seguí, from the Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology; Maria Josep Picó Garcés, from the Department of Language Theory and Communication Sciences; as well as Miquel Nicolás Amorós and Roman Rosselló Ivars, both from the Department of Catalan.

Prior to the Internal Debate League, the students were trained in the course ‘Public speaking: preparatory course for the University Debate League.’ In this training, they worked on public speaking with tactics for preparing oral speeches, losing stage fright, as well as training voice and body. This course was given by Gonçal López-Pampló, Professor of the Department of Catalan at the Universitat de València; Nuria Martin, theatre director, actress and teacher specialised in acting; and Jose A. García Sáez, Professor in the Department of Political Legal Philosophy of the UV and Secretary of the Human Rights Institute (IUDHUV).

Students who participated in both parts of the UV local phase (the training and the Internal League) are awarded 1.5 ECTS. In addition, each member of the winning team of the league and the best speaker receive a prize of €200 each.

The Xarxa Vives University Debate League

From 24 to 26 April 2024, the Xarxa Vives Debate League will take place at the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló de la Plana. The members of the team representing the Universitat de València will be selected from among all the students who have participated in the local phase of the University Debate League, which is promoted by the Student Council and organised by the Information and Promotion Service for Students (Sedi)

The Xarxa Vives University Debate League is a dialectic competition in which different teams of university students debate on a controversial and current topic. The aim of the competition, which has been organised since 2005, is to encourage speech and promote skills such as argumentation, public speaking, information research, collaborative work and staging. It also aims to foster relationships with students from other universities of the Xarxa Vives d’Universitats.