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GCC Debate League

Coming to Dubai 2024-2025

About us

About Us

Our mission

Students everywhere deserve a forum to practice thinking critically and speaking confidently. We founded the Gulf Debate League to bring frequent, reliable, and high-quality debate competition to one of the most rapidly innovating places on earth. With our international focus, experienced leadership, and partnerships with top Universities, we are excited to help schools and students build skills and share ideas. 

Our experience

Our team has years of experience running some of the biggest debate tournaments in the world including the North American Universities Debating Championship, North American Debating Championship, and National Speech & Debate tournament. In addition, our team has also helped host other academic events such as personal statement workshops, leadership seminars, and Model United Nations confrences.

Our leadership

Atlantic Ivy was founded to expand Speech & Debate in Dubai and the GCC. We offer coaching for all ages, led by top instructors, including former head coaches from Oxford and Harvard. Our partnerships with Ivy League universities keep our students on the cutting edge of strategy.

We empower future leaders to express themselves and engage with global issues through Speech & Debate, a skill proven to boost grades, test scores, and college acceptance rates. We offer weekly classes, one-on-one tutoring, and opportunities to compete locally and internationally, including prestigious tournaments like the Harvard and Yale Invitational and the American National Championship.

At UniHawk, we are dedicated mentors committed to your success. Founded by passionate individuals, we guide students to overcome challenges and achieve their dreams through our unique SECI methodology—Socialisation, Externalization, Combination, and Internalization. We go beyond academics, offering tailored support in test prep, college applications, CV building, career coaching, essay writing, and interview preparation.

Upcoming Competitions

Harvard Dubai Invitational

  • Date: Nov 9 - 10
  • Event: Public Forum & BP
  • Location: Online

Oxford Schools
Dubai

  • Date: Nov 23-24
  • Event: World Schools
  • Location: Dubai

Founding Partners

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Benefits of Debate

Debaters

Average

Top 10 University

Top 25 University

Top 50 University

Resource

Resources

Files

Learn more about Public Forum and Individual British Parliamentary, the two events at the upcoming Harvard Tournament.

Membership

Sign up to stay in the loop and receive tournament updates, extra resources, and access to lectures from our Ivy League partners for free

Rankings

Check our regularly updated rankings to track your progress, scout the competition, and verify your debate accomplishments

Rankings

Rankings

Rankings will be posted after the first tournament of the year

Wy debate

Why Debate

In a rapidly changing world, the ability to communicate, think critically, and persuade is vital. Speech & Debate helps students explore complex topics, refute arguments, engage audiences, and connect globally. It also offers a chance to stand out: in 2024, international students from the GCC can qualify for the National Championship, the world’s largest academic competition for the first time ever.

01
Learn How to Think
Debate teaches students to analyze issues from both sides and come to their own conclusions. In the process of examining evidence, constructing arguments, and rebutting their opponents, debaters learn to identify misinformation and faulty logic. These skills aren’t just useful at tournaments. Instead, they students progress through high school, university, and the rest of their lives.
02
Master Persuasion
Successful debating doesn’t just require good arguments, it requires the ability to reach an audience. Competing at tournaments helps students become confident standing up in front of judges, cross examining opponents, and making their case. Further, debaters learn how to simplify complicated topics into elegant speeches accessible to the average person; an invaluable skill in college, work, and beyond.
03
Stand Out
Debaters have the opportunity to distinguish themselves through competitive success. From winning their first round to championing a tournament, debate is the perfect way for students to build confidence in their academic abilities and build their resume standing out to global colleges and universities.

The Stats

87%

Increase in Analytical Thinking Skills

7 times

More Likely to be Admitted to a TOP 10 University

school

>200

Debate-specific scholarships offered every year

21%

Improvement on English Language Tests

20%

Increase in Grade Point Average

20%

More likely to have a Job after University Graduation

15%

Boost in Social Confidence

10%

Boost in Standardized Test Scores

21%

More likely to be Promoted yearly

Famous Debaters

Oprah Winfrey

Legendary Talk Show Host​ Class of 1971 | East Nashville High School, Tennessee "[Speech and Debate] gives you a sense of confidence in speaking in front of people, a sense of presence, and a sense of pride. It’s about the power of words to influence ideas, to uncover a higher truth, to change minds, and for a lot of people, even to change lives. Oprah Winfey

Elinor Ostrom

Nobel Prize In Economics​ Class of 1951 | Beverly Hills High School, California “Learning debate was an important early impact on my ways of thinking. You are taught that there are always at least two sides to public policy questions, and you have to learn a good argument for both sides as well as knowing how to critique both sides.”​ Elinor Ostrom

Samuel Alito

US Supreme Court Justice​ Class of 1968 | Trenton Hamilton East High School, New Jersey "The skills developed through competitive debate are not limited to helping a legal career: top-notch research skills, quick analytical thinking, and strong public speaking are tools needed to be successful in almost any profession. Samuel Alito

Contact Us

Whether you are a School Administer, Parent, Student, or Community Member looking to get involved, our team would love to speak with you today.

Dubai Debate League

[email protected]

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The rankings

For the 2024-2025 season, the league will use a cumulative, points-based, ranking system. Rankings will be run for three categories; Speakers, Teams, and Schools. Points for all rankings will start at 20 points for first place and be divided by round until the point total either falls below 0.5 or reaches the last eligible participant. For example, in a hypothetical tournament, the champion would receive 20 points, the runner up 16 points, each semi-final team 10 points, each quarterfinal team 5 points, etc.