Short-preparation tournaments
Scottish University Union Tournaments
Many of the leading Scottish and English university debating societies hold debating competitions. On the whole, these are one-day tournaments held at the University Union during the school week. Find out more about these dates on the British Debate website.
At each of these tournaments, a number of debates are held throughout the day and all are short-preparation (ie the motion is announced 15 minutes before the debate starts). Most University Union competitions are held in British Parliamentary Format.
These are excellent tournaments to hone the skills of young debaters and, although challenging, are a lot of fun.
English and Nationwide Schools Debating Tournaments
A number of the leading universities in England also run schools debating tournaments.
The Cambridge and Oxford tournaments in particular are well-known for the size and quality of their tournaments. These tournaments host regional rounds around the country (usually one or two heats in Scotland depending on the number of Scottish entrants) and from these heats the top few teams are selected to go on to a one-day tournament.
These are time-consuming tournaments but can be a lot of fun. They are also a useful way of exposing pupils to universities away from Scotland.
For more information visit the World Schools Debating Championships website.