Second GGD Edition

Oceanographic. UCV Campus, July 19 2019.
II GGD Debate

Since 2011, criticism of the European Union’s inaction to prevent the southern mafias from filling the Mediterranean with corpses has not ceased; for its part, the US plans to build a wall on the border with Mexico to stop the illegal flow of migrants. All this, while a movement of opposition to contemporary migration policies is growing. Numerous scientific and doctrinal articles, political speeches and statistics try to shed light on the impact of the migration phenomenon.

In the course of a strong social and political tension, the Board of GGD proposed to the students to address the migration issue through the following question:

                                                             Falta poner la pregunta que no me acuerdo exactamente.    

     The II Edition of the Global Governance Debate was hosted by Universidad Católica de Valencia in July 2019. The «Questión» discussed was about the obligations of the State related to migrants. The International Office of the UCV headed by Beatriz Manrique was in charge of the organization of the competition.

     Six Teams, eighteen students from 4 nationalities took part in the Debate -with 6 matches and a Final Round-. All the competition took place at the Oceanographic in the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. The Catholic University of Valencia sponsored the event. All the registration, preparation and participation were free for all students.

  Virginia García Romero (UCV Student Class of 2018) as staff member moderated all rounds. The Jurors -Yale University Professor, PhD. Leslie Harkema, Pharm; UCV Administrative Law Professor Rosa Cernada Badía and UCV Economics Professor María Escrivá Beltrán- (see more about Jurors here) decided to award (ex aequo) the teams composed by  ___________, ______________ and _____________ and the team composed by Verónica García-Menacho, _________________ and _________________ the prize for the Best Team in the Debate. It also decided to award the student _______________________ as the best speaker in the Debate.

The Second Edition of the Global Governance Debate lasted one day. In the morning part, the students had a heated discussion on the issue raised. In a polite way and using the techniques of rhetoric they tried to expose the judges and convince the audience of the reasonableness of their arguments. At midday, once the competition was over, the participants attended an informal lunch at the Oceanographyc in Valencia and enjoyed the exhibition in the afternoon.

According to one of the participants, Andreea Ciobanu (Yale College, Class of 2022), “It was an honor to participate in the first Global Governance Debate held in Valencia, Spain. My classmates and I engaged in friendly competition with students from the Universidad Católica de Valencia on the protection of migrants and refugees. We worked alongside law professors to prepare and learn how to formally debate. For many non-native speakers, myself included, articulating thoughts and building off opposing arguments in Spanish proved a challenge. Nonetheless, our efforts united both cultures in considering various sides of a crucial, international topic. The Global Governance Debate enhanced my study abroad experience and helped me gain confidence in my speaking abilities.”

You can see more photos and videos in the Gallery