THE ATENEO Debate Society (ADS) has been ranked eighth best debating institution in the World University Debate Rankings.
The rankings were last updated on November 19 on the official website of the International Debate Education Association (IDEA).
ADS slipped one spot lower from its previous ranking. However, it remains to be the only debate society from Asia that places in the Top 10, alongside debate societies from universities such as Cornell, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge.
According to IDEA’s website, rankings were drawn from the results of 33 high-profile tournaments across the world to show an accurate representation of the comparative strength of debating societies against each other.
Points were calculated for each debating institution by totaling the results of all the teams the society fielded in tournaments tracked by IDEA over the course of the year, with the World Universities Debating Championships being the largest.
ADS emerged eighth in the world, with 21,793 points scored by 52 teams. Previously, it ranked seventh, with 3,070 points scored by 31 teams.
ADS Vice President for the Office of Public Relations Marianne Vitug said that when not all tournaments for 2012 were computed, ADS was actually ranked eleventh. “I think we are all very, very happy and proud that we are now back in the Top 10,” she said.
Vitug believes that their ability to participate in international tournaments gave ADS an edge over other Asian debate societies.
“International adjudicators and competitors find that our style is very adept for the international debate sphere,” she said.
“Other schools in the Philippines are not able to join as many tournaments abroad as us, which means that we are more used to the kind of style that they have there.”
Five other universities in the Philippines made it to the Top 100, including University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman (21st), UP Manila (23rd), De La Salle University (52nd), UP Los Baños (53rd) and Far Eastern University (72nd).
As of press time, ADS is preparing for the upcoming Philippine Inter-Collegiate Debating Championship.
“The goal is to do well in the next tournaments as an entire contingent,” Vitug said. Performing well there will help ADS maintain its world ranking for next year, she added.
