Support debating at the Union

"It's about practical skills that people can use every day"

In this video, Dr Mark Billinge, Director of Development and Alumni Relations at the Union talks with Debating Officer Alex Forzani about debating and our debating programmes in schools around the country. The full transcript of the video is available here.

Promoting Debate

Our student-run debating programme brings together thousands of students and schoolchildren each year to share and promote the practices of debate and public speech.

Workshops held by Cambridge Union Debating Officers at schools throughout the country give young people the skills and confidence to speak publicly and argue persuasively -- skills that hold lifetime significance and confer immeasurable practical value. 

Our prestigious annual schools’ debating competition offers schoolchildren the opportunity to test and hone these life skills in a competitive environment, drawing teams from over six-hundred schools around the country. To ensure widest possible participation --particularly from schools in disadvantaged communities -- the Society operates a bursary scheme to defray the costs of entry for those that need it most.

The Society receives no public monies or funding from the University to pursue any of these activities, and supports these charitable programmes solely from its own means. To help secure the long-term success of these outreach initiatives, please consider making a donation to our fundraising campaign.

"...certainly when I have been judging schools' rounds this year I have put through people that have never debated before because they were really good, and they were there because of bursaries." - Alex Forzani, Debating Officer Michalmas 2011