Aeysha Ferdous

The United International University Debate Club (UIUDC) was formed on February 14, 2004 with the help of a few dedicated teachers and some enthusiastic students. It is one of the university’s oldest clubs under the Directorate of Student Affairs (DSA) and one of the top debate clubs of the country, having won numerous championships in national competitions.
The university was founded in 2003 and at first, it was a challenge for UIUDC to compete with other legendary debate clubs and make a mark. However, the UIU debate club started with gusto and left no stone unturned to gain recognition and success. Nevertheless, success did not come easily for the club, as most members were quite new to the idea of ‘debating.’ It was only due to the interest of the students to do something new that motivated them to learn and compete in various competitions.
Initially, UIUDC had very few members. Mahfuza Malik, who used to teach at the university’s School of Business, took the initiative to start the club. After her departure, other teachers like Subarno Barua and Shawkat Salim Rahman took charge of the club as moderators. Some of the students who helped to start the club were Mostafa Sorwar Jewel and Sanaul Haque Himel. All the original members learned debating at the club as they had no previous experience in school or college. They would read together and watch debates and arrange weekly sessions with other members.
After struggling for four years, UIUDC got its first taste of success in 2007, when it secured the runner-up prize in the Inter-University Debate Championship, organised by Ekushey Hall of Dhaka University. That year, UIUDC also became champion in the 3rd UIU-AKTEL Inter University Debate Championship. From then on, the club’s winning spree has continued. One of the major successes for the club was when it bagged the championship trophy in the ATN Bangla-BSB Cambrian School Projonmo Bitorko-2008/09. UIUDC became the first private university debate club to win a major league national TV debate title. The runner-up was Dhaka University Debating Society (DUDS).
In 2010, the UIU authorities thought that along with Bangla debating, UIUDC should also focus on English debating. After a long discussion, the university decided to hire a professional trainer for English sessions.
Initially, UIUDC again had to go through the struggle that it had faced in its initial days, as the members were completely new to debating in English. But with support from the authorities, the students actively took part in sessions with the hired coach and learned a great deal about this new form of debate.
Along with debating, UIUDC has been organising debating contests, in both Bangla and English, for the past nine years, inviting teams from various reputed universities and colleges nationwide. UIUDC also organises an intra-university debate competition every year to find talented and potential debaters for the future.
In 2010, the club won the 6th UIU National Debate Championship, hosted by UIUDC itself, and became runner-up in the 8th Inter University Debate Championship, organised by DUDS. It also became semi-finalists in the BUET National Debate Tournament and LCLS National Debate Tournament.
In 2011, UIUDC won the Brac Advocacy Unit Debate Championship, and came first in the 3rd Prothom Alo-KUET National Debate Championship Bangla debate and runner-up in English debate. That year, UIU sent two teams, comprising of five participants each, to compete in the World Universities Debate Championship (WUDC), hosted by De Salle University in Manila, the Philippines.
In 2012, UIUDC became semi-finalists in BUET National Debate Tournament and NSU Wupid Bangladesh. UIUDC also won the Daffodil Debate Championship, became runner-up in the Dhaka University Environment Debate and secured semi-finalist position in the 21st National Television Debate Championship. That year, UIU sent two teams, comprising of 6 debaters and two adjudicators, to compete in United Asian Debate Competition 2012, hosted by Multimedia University in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. It also sent one adjudicator to Oxford Inter-University Debate Championship in the UK.  UIUDC also went to the World University Debate Championship in Berlin, Germany.
In 2015, UIUDC became champion in BSHRM Inter-University Debate Championship (English).