The Delegations of Universitas Brawijaya (UB) achieved brilliant achievements in the 2024 National University Debating Championship (NUDC), which was held at Universitas Terbuka, South Tangerang as the host on (26/5-2/6/2024). Hemalia Kusuma Dewi, familiarly called Hema, along with her colleague Muhammad Irfan Azhari, called Irfan, are outstanding students from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences majoring in International Relations who won the third place (2nd runner up) in NUDC 2024. The National University Debating Competition (NUDC) is a national-scale debate competition between universities under the auspices of the National Achievement Center (Puspresnas) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology.
In an interview with PRASETYA Online, Hema stated that she has been honing her English debate skills since high school.
“I am interested in the world of debate, especially English debate, because I have joined an English debate club since high school. I want to develop my public speaking skills, critical thinking, and my English skills to be more fluent. During high school, I also actively participated in debate competitions and I also learned about team dynamics, how to communicate with a team, compromise with a team, and be able to understand each other so that the cases raised can be presented well,” said the 2023 FISIP Mawapres (Achieved Student).
The winner of the Open Semifinalist & Co-8th Best Speaker Aurgumentum title at the Intervarsity Debating Competition stated that she had been on hiatus from the world of debate during college.
“Actually, I was on hiatus for several years in college, but in this 6th semester, someone reached out to me to become a FISIP delegate to then be selected at UB level and was chosen to represent UB in NUDC region III, received a gold medal and thank God qualified for the national NUDC,” said Hema.
She also said that her team had the opportunity to be an Indonesian delegate at the World University Debate Championship (WUDC) in Panama in early 2025.
“Thank God, our team was chosen to represent UB in NUDC region III and succeeded in reaching the national level. And NUDC has a final goal if it can enter the grand final of the national NUDC, it will become an Indonesian delegate at WUDC where this is the most prestigious debate competition in the world which will be held in Panama in early 2025. And thank God we got the opportunity to represent Indonesia in this international event,” said the representative of UB debate contingent.
In its implementation, NUDC does not have a specific theme because each round has a different motion to be shuffled.
“So each round has different motions. During the NUDC last time, I had to go through 13 rounds until the grand final which all had different themes. The themes included education, law, economics, international relations (geopolitics), philosophy, and society,” said Hema in her interview.
The assessment criteria in this event have 3 components, namely matter, manner, and method. Matter is closely related to the content and substance of the argument that can be accepted logically. Manner is a way of conveying arguments clearly and explicitly, and method is related to the structure of speech based on the flexible British Parliamentary.
“The most important point is matter related to content, substance, and arguments can be accepted logically. And this is the most important assessment component because we have to convince the jury that our argument is the most relevant and not all of it has to be with data because NUDC builds cases incidentally so we are given 15 minutes to build an argument so that there we only try to convince the jury with the material we remember, and the argument is built step by step,” she said.
Hema also shared a unique and winding experience while participating in the NUDC competition. “The competition process was very winding, there were many obstacles to learn because we went from the preliminary round to the final for five days non-stop without any breaks. The first three days were debates for three rounds and the last two days were debates for two rounds and the total competition was thirteen rounds. And it was not easy at all because it was quite tiring because normally a debate for three rounds in one day is already very tiring. I also felt that this was very draining mentally and physically,” she said.
In addition to draining the mind, on the other hand, this competition also drained their energy because the distance between the accommodation and the venue was quite far. In order to save money, they decided to walk during the competition.
“The unique story of this national NUDC is that the accommodation is 1.5 kilometers from the venue and UB delegation decided to walk so that for 1 week we walked continuously there. And in one day it could reach 3 KM round trip,” she said.
In the end, despite presenting very tough challenges in terms of physical and mental, participation in NUDC brought many invaluable benefits. In addition to the awards received, the UB debate team also gained valuable insights from the judges. The achievement as the second winner in this competition is an award for the struggle and obstacles that have been overcome. In fact, this experience became one of the most memorable moments during college according to Hema. Overall, she is very grateful to have participated in NUDC and faced every challenge.
“The positive impression here is that there are so many lessons learned apart from the award itself. The insight we get from the judges and it contributes to improving individual/team skills. I see that there is a payback from the obstacles and challenges that the team has gone through together in the form of an award for becoming the second winner in this NUDC. It was a memorable moment during this college because basically it was as hectic as competing for five days nonstop. Eventually it’s very good and I’m glad that I went through NUDC,” she said of participating in the 2024 NUDC competition. [dea/sitirahma/ UB PR/ Trans. Iir]
