With BRAC University students Sourodip Paul and Sajid Asbat Khandaker recently becoming winners of World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC 2022), the spotlight has also come upon BRAC University Debate Club (BUDC).
The BUDC’s legacy dates back to 2013 when team “BRAC Bangladesh A” consisting of Ratib Murtaza Ali and Aaqib Farhan Hossain claimed the title of world champions at the World Universities Debating Championship 2013 (WUDC) in Berlin in the English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) category. This was Bangladesh’s first such win in this international debating platform beating experienced performers from around the globe.
Afterwards team BRAC A consisting of Azraf Uddin Ahmed and Mahmudul Hasan Nabil reached the ESL semifinals of WUDC 2015 in Malaysia and came out as the 7th best ESL team.
In 2020, a BRAC University debating team missed making it to the elimination or “break” rounds from the preliminary rounds at Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships by a score margin of 0.01. In Asian British Parliamentary Championship 2020 which brought over 150 teams, team BRAC 1 comprising Aliya Fairuz and Nayara Noor managed to reach the break rounds. Team BRAC 2 comprising Sajid Bin Hasnat and Aniruddha Chowdhury reached the semifinals and came out as the 6th best team in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) category. In United Asian Debating Championship 2020 hosted by Bangladesh, team “BRAC A” comprising Aliya Fairuz, Nayara Noor and Iffat Sumaiya came out as the 23rd best team from among 104 teams.
In 2021, Sajid Bin Hasnat and Aliya Fairuz were judges of United Asian Debating Championship 2021. In October 2021, team BRAC 1 comprising Sajid Bin Hasnat and Shifatul Ahsan Apurba ranked 24th in the open category at Asian British Parliamentary Championship competing with over 194 teams from more than 100 universities. Team BRAC 2 comprised of EFL semifinalists Mahdi Uddin and Rahat Khan while Nayara Noor and Aliya Fairuz were adjudicators.
The tides changed when Khandaker and Paul joined the BUDC on enrolling in the Master of Science in Applied Economics program at the Department of Economics and Social Sciences of BRAC University. On 14 November, 2021, they won Cambridge Intervarsity (IV) 2021 organized by the Cambridge Union which was participated by 124 teams. In Oxford Intervarsity 2021, they reached the open finals.
In Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships 2021, in conjunction with Nayara Noor, they came out 2nd on the tab, the highest ever position from Bangladesh, while Aliya Fairuz took on the role of a judge. In December 2021, Sajid Bin Hasnat and Md. Shifatul Ahsan Apurba took on the role of independent adjudicators at Pan-African Universities Debating Championship 2021.
And finally on 27 July, 2022, team BRAC A comprising Paul and Khandakar brought the BUDC its 2nd world cup and Bangladesh its 1st open world cup.