(MENAFN- The Peninsula) QNA
Doha, Qatar: The activities of the first International Conference on Debate and Dialogue and the associated exhibition, organised by the QatarDebate Center, kicked off yesterday, in the presence of Vice Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, and a number of Their Excellencies, sheikhs and ministers.
The two-day conference at the Qatar National Convention Center aims to be an open platform for discussing academic issues specialized in the global debate community of researchers, interested people and academics, and exchanging training and educational experiences in a way that contributes to the development of knowledge production in the fields of debate, dialogue and interrelated disciplines.
The opening session of the conference included a speech by Minister of State for International Cooperation H E Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater, and Executive Director of QatarDebate Center, Dr. Hayat Abdullah Maarafi. It also included a panel discussion on the role and impact of debate institutions around the world, which brought together a number of speakers.
In her speech, Dr. Maarafi confirmed that the centre has become one of the most important institutions concerned with debate and dialogue in the whole world, and its experience has become the focus of attention and sets the standards for the radical creation of organisations and entities in the world of debate. She added that the centre spreads the message of enriching dialogue and empowering minds by organising and hosting the largest international and continental championships in school and university debates in both Arabic and English.
She added that the centre is determined to continue its competitive debate programmes and allow society to obtain the greatest possible benefit following the great success achieved in the field of competitive debates and the expansion of the beneficiaries of its educational programs and activities to include more than 500 universities and schools in 80 countries and thousands of participants.
Dr. Maarafi highlighted the partnerships the centre established with universities inside and outside the country to offer university courses on debate and critical thinking, including a debate course for students of the Police College in Qatar, and cooperation with prestigious American institutions to offer courses that employ debate to teach Arabic to non-native speakers. The efforts culminated in a qualitative partnership with Tunisia's University Ez-Zitouna to design and launch a masters programme, the first of its kind, she said.
In her speech, Al Khater drew attention to the arts of debate in poetry and literature and between Muslim scholars and Orientalists, and how these debates were like“intellectual wars” that enriched cultural life, deepened awareness of various issues and contributed to the development of skills, arts, sciences and language.
She noted the role of the QatarDebate Center in reviving the culture of debate, extending platforms and expanding partnerships, while highlighting its role in disseminating the culture of debate in the Arabic language in various countries of the world, spreading the Arabic language among non-native speakers, and raising the level of language and logical arguments among Arabs and others from other nations, as well as its role in establishing academic programs in many countries.
Moreover, she hoped that this conference will bear fruit and achieve its goal of being a comprehensive platform for researchers and those interested in the sciences and arts of debating. Meanwhile, speakers in the panel discussion entitled“Debate institutions around the world: role and impact” stressed the importance of the art of debates in confronting argument with another, critical thinking, discussing current topics and issues, and analysing and understanding the evidence.