The University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona debating team is currently in Turkey participating in the 30th World Universities Debating Championships, hosted by Koc University in Antalya, Turkey. This is the biggest event on the international debating calendar and is often referred to as the 'Olympics' of debating. Four hundred teams from 150 institutions in 45 countries, on all five continents, are expected to compete.

This year, UWI, Mona, will be represented by Ricardo Brooks, third-year student from the Faculty of Humanities and Education, and Krystal Tomlinson, second-year student from the Faculty of Social Sciences. The team will be accompanied by Carlton Lowrie, manager, coach and a category-A adjudicator with the World Universities Debating Council.

Mona has been participating consistently in 'Worlds' since 1997, and at the last analysis, was in 59th position out of the 200 universities that had taken part in the championships over the previous five years.

Last year in Ireland, Mona placed first (for the 10th time) in the Caribbean and Latin American region. Our two speakers, Tyrone Hall and Ricardo Brooks, were Best Speaker and runner-up respectively.

'Worlds' is an opportunity to promote, internationally, not only UWI and the region, but also Jamaica, now the 10th-ranked debating nation in the world, thanks to the consistently high performance of the UWI, Mona teams.