NUDC : A Brief Overview

 A Brief History

The National University Debating Championship, simply known as NUDC, is a nationwide debating competition for universities throughout Indonesia. The competition has it roots back in 2007. It was first known as National University English Debating Championship (NUEDC), before changing to its current name in 2013. The competition is currently being hold under Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) and it is hosted by a select university. Previously it was held by Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti) Indonesia.

NUDC 2024 Logo

The Debate System

Throughout the competition, NUDC will use the British Parliamentary debate style. The use of this particular debating style is in line WUDC. NUDC is known to be used to choose Indonesia’s delegation for WUDC.

 The debating style features a structure involving four teams, each with two members. These teams are divided into the Government and the Opposition sides, with each side further split into Opening and Closing teams. The Opening Government team consists of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, who set up the debate by defining the motion and presenting initial arguments in favor. The Opening Opposition team, consisting of the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, responds by refuting these arguments and presenting their own against the motion. The Closing Government team, made up of the Member of Government and the Government Whip, introduces new arguments and supports the Opening Government's case while adding their unique contributions. Similarly, the Closing Opposition team, comprising the Member of Opposition and the Opposition Whip, introduces new arguments against the motion and reinforces the Opening Opposition's case.

The British Parliamentary Debate System

The Regional Stage

Before going to National Stage, each team must go through the regional stage. The teams are based upon universities across Indonesia. Each university will delegate a team that consisted of 2 Debaters and 1 N1 Adjudicator. These team will enter the regional stage.

There will be a host university for this regional stage, it is in most case are different than the main host for the national stage. The regional system is based upon the LLDIKTI divisioning. Each LLDIKTI has their own quota for participation and the national stage.

·       LLDIKTI Region I is located in Medan, with a working area of North Sumatra Province.

·       LLDIKTI Region II is located in Palembang, with a working area of South Sumatra Province, Lampung, Bengkulu, and the Bangka Belitung Islands.

·       LLDIKTI Region III is located in DKI Jakarta, with a working area of DKI Jakarta Province.

·       LLDIKTI Region IV is located in Bandung, with a working area of West Java and Banten Provinces.

·       LLDIKTI Region V is located in Yogyakarta, with a working area of the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province.

·       LLDIKTI Region VI is located in Semarang, with a working area of Central Java Province.

·       LLDIKTI Region VII is located in Surabaya, with a working area of East Java Province.

·       LLDIKTI Region VIII is located in Denpasar, with a working area of Bali Province and West Nusa Tenggara.

·       LLDIKTI Region IX is located in Makassar, with a working area of South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, and West Sulawesi Provinces.

·       LLDIKTI Region X is located in Padang, with a working area of West Sumatra, Riau, the Riau Islands, and Jambi Provinces.

·       LLDIKTI Region XI is located in Banjarmasin, with a working area of South Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and North Kalimantan Provinces.

·       LLDIKTI Region XII is located in Ambon, with a working area of Maluku and North Maluku Provinces.

·       LLDIKTI Region XIII is located in Banda Aceh, with a working area of Aceh Province.

·       LLDIKTI Region XIV is located in Biak, with a working area of Papua and West Papua Provinces.

·       LLDIKTI Region XV is located in Kupang, with a working area of East Nusa Tenggara Province.

·       LLDIKTI Region XVI is located in Gorontalo, with a working area of Gorontalo, Central Sulawesi, and North Sulawesi Provinces.

The exact distribution of each region and the quota numbers varies for each years. Here are the NUDC 2024 for reference.

Region	LLDIKTI	Participation Quota	National Quota
1	LLDIKTI I	32	8
	LLDIKTI II	32	8
	LLDIKTI X	32	8
	LLDIKTI XI	30	6
	LLDIKTI XIII	15	5

 

Region	LLDIKTI	Participation Quota	National Quota
2	LLDIKTI III	40	10
	LLDIKTI IV	40	10
	LLDIKTI V	24	8
	LLDIKTI VI	32	8

 

Region	LLDIKTI	Participation Quota	National Quota
3	LLDIKTI VII	40	10
	LLDIKTI VIII	24	6
	LLDIKTI IX	32	8
	LLDIKTI XII	18	8
	LLDIKTI XIV	15	5
	LLDIKTI XV	6	3
	LLDIKTI XVI	6	3

 

The best teams from each LLDIKTI, based on the cumulative scores over 8 preliminary rounds, will be selected to represent their respective LLDIKTI at the National Level. The number of teams representing each LLDIKTI will be adjusted according to the quota for each LLDIKTI as shown above.

The National Stage

The National Stage is hold on the respective year’s host university location. For 2024, NUDC is hosted by Universitas Terbuka and it is held in a room throughout its campus. The campus is quite big, so there was vehicle that was accommodated to commute the participants to their respective debate location.  

Universitas Terbuka, The Host University for NUDC 2024

 

There are two divisions in the elimination rounds: Open-Draw and Novice. The Open-Draw division will feature the best teams based on cumulative win points and scores from the preliminary rounds. The Novice division will feature the best teams that qualify as novice teams and are not included among the best teams in the Open-Draw division.

There are three stages in the National NUDC:

1. Preliminary Rounds: There are 7 preliminary rounds in the National NUDC that all teams must participate in.
2. Partial Double Octo (PDO): The PDO consists of the 8th and 9th rounds, which feature teams ranked 1 to 48 based on their performance in the previous 7 preliminary rounds. Results from these rounds are combined with the preliminary round results to determine which teams advance to the elimination rounds.
3. Open Break (Open-Draw Elimination Round): The Open-Draw division is the main division in the NUDC and includes the following rounds:
• Octofinal Round: This round involves teams ranked 1 to 32 from the PDO. Two winning teams from each debate room advance to the Quarterfinals.
• Quarterfinal Round: This round features the sixteen winners from the Octofinals. Two winning teams from each debate room progress to the Semifinals.
• Semifinal Round: This round includes the eight winners from the Quarterfinals. Two winning teams from each debate room move on to the Grand Final.
• Grand Final Round: The final round features the top four teams from the Semifinals and determines the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place winners.
4. Novice Break (Novice Elimination Round): The Novice division is a special elimination round for teams who meet novice criteria The Novice division includes:
• Novice Quarterfinals, Novice Semifinals, and Novice Grand Final.
• There are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place winners in the Novice Grand Final. 

The Novice System

To qualify as a Novice Team, a team must consist of two Novice Speakers. If a team has only one Novice Speaker, it does not meet the criteria for being classified as a Novice Team.

A Novice Speaker is defined as someone who has never progressed to the Elimination Rounds in any varsity-level, national, or international debating competition, and who has not received Speaker Awards in any of these competitions. Even if a team has only one Novice Speaker, that individual still meets the definition of a Novice Speaker, but the team as a whole will not be considered a Novice Team.

Closing

Those are a really brief overview of the competition. Do note that each year of the competition the regulation varies, but this can be used as some kind of base knowledge on what NUDC is. As one of the most prestigious debating competition in Indonesia, we hope that this helps for debaters, especially new one to understand how the competition works.

Content Writter: Rafi Kyandra Atharizqi