BHC holds GREAT Debate competition in Lahore

Lahore: The British High Commission Thursday launched the fifth edition of its GREAT Debate competition with a regional round at the Government College University (GC University) Lahore.

The competition featured 25 students from eight universities across Lahore. At the end of an intense competition, Mustafa Shaukat from Lahore University of Management Sciences was the winner and Muhammad Ali from Punjab University was the runner-up.

The GREAT Debate competition is taking place from December 2019 to March 2020 in six cities across Pakistan.

Fouzia Younis, Director of Communication at the British High Commission said: “Over the past five years, we have engaged over one thousand debaters and partnered with leading universities in 12 cities across Pakistan through our GREAT Debate competition.

She added: “The competition gives us an opportunity to celebrate our shared tradition of lively, reasoned debate as well as give students a platform to express their views and opinions about topics that matter to both Pakistan and the UK.

“So it’s only right that this year’s debate theme is focused on the global impact of climate change, especially as the UK prepares to host a major UN summit on this important agenda in November 2020.”

Professor Dr. Asghar Zaidi, The Vice Chancellor of GCU, said: “The Great Debate is an excellent initiative by the British High Commission Pakistan, which provides the students with a wonderful opportunity to engage with various ideas pertaining to the socio-economic issues of Pakistan.”

“GC University Lahore takes pride in hosting this year’s regional round in collaboration with the British High Commission. We are excited to join hands for this initiative and collaborate in order to develop a healthy culture of discourse, and to improve the quality of higher education in the country.”

University students across Pakistan who are interested in debating and taking part in the GREAT Debate competition can register immediately by registering on greatdebate.com.pk

This is the fifth annual edition of the British High Commission’s GREAT Debate competition. Since 2015, the competition has taken place across 15 universities and 12 cities in Pakistan. The previous winners of the GREAT Debate competition have included: Gaudhan Aslam from Forman Christian College in Lahore, Taha Ahmed from Aga Khan University in Karachi, Mohiba Ahmed and Haris Ali Virk from Government College University in Lahore.

The GREAT Debate is a debating competition for university students. There will been six events – in six different cities (Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Faisalabad) involving students from leading universities across Pakistan – and the winner and runner-up of each round will compete in the final in Islamabad.

The winner and runner-up of the overall competition will receive a scholarship reward to contribute towards their tuition fees.