UM Mandarin Debating Team Participated at the Inter-Tertiary Mandarin Debating Friendship Competition for Freshmen

The UM Mandarin Debating Team participated in the 3rd “Inter-Tertiary Mandarin Debating Friendship Competition for Freshmen” held in mid-March at the Grand Hall of Forward Building at IFTM Taipa Campus. The competition was organized by the Mandarin Debating Team of the Macau Institute of Tourism Studies, with the aim of encouraging freshmen to actively participate in debating competitions to improve their skills, making new friends through debate and receive valuable feedback from judges and coaches. Invited institutions included the University of Macau, City University of Macau, Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau Polytechnic University, Macau Institute of Tourism Studies (in no particular order).

Each of the invited institutions sent a team consisting of four first-year students to participate the contest. After drawing lots, two institutions were paired to compete. The adjudicators were senior debaters or coaches recommended by the participating teams and institutions. UM sent Wang Haoran from FSS and CKYC to be one of the adjudicators. The contest did not have a winning or losing team, and the best debater was selected by the adjudicators.

UM sent four first-year students to participate in the contest, they were Xie Yirui from FSS and MLC, Zhao Jinxuan from FBA and CYTC, Fang Ruiyu from FST and CYTC and He Ziqi from FSS and CKYC. They debated against IFTM and performed well. The topic of the competition was “In today’s China, pharmaceutical companies should pay more attention to the research and development of generic/new drugs”. UM was the affirmative side and argued about issues such as cost-effectiveness and people’s livelihoods. Fang Ruiyu, the second debater, won the title of Best Debater in this single contest.