Worlds Eligibility

With a little more than two months to go to DLSU Worlds in Manila Tom Jackson has posted a guide to eligibility when it comes to speaking at Worlds on the English National Universities Debating Council on facebook.

Having chaired two council meetings eligibility has always been a big issue.  I chaired a meeting that had to tell one team they could not speak (they were representing a national association not an actual university) so do not expect that simply turning up means you will be allowed to take part. If you don't meet the criteria you will be excluded. 

Tom's guide on facebook is broadly excellent in providing guidelines on eligibility. However there are elements in Tom's guide that I feel would need clarification from council (specifically the idea that Speakers may speak for a regional debating association in the absence of a Debating Union at their University or that you can somehow get around the rules by only speaking with first years in the term before Worlds).  Basically as a rule of thumb you should (a) Be a registered Student in a third level institution (b) Be competing for the third level institution at which you are registered. (c) have not spoken at 4 worlds in the past even if they were for different institutions.

If you feel you don't meet those three rough guidelines and Tom's guide has not clarified things for you then you should contact the DLSU org comm and Worlds Council Chair Jens Fischer ASAP. You don't want to spend a lot of money travelling to Worlds only to discover you can't compete.