Institut Teknologi Bandung

Different to other common debating tournaments in which topics range widely in all fields of social sciences, the NDC focused on economics only, continuing its annual tradition since several years back. The ITB delegates have successfully bested other teams which mostly came from economics major and other social sciences such as the Padjadjaran University and Bakrie University.

Developing Critical Thinking and Public Speaking Skills

The system of the debate in the tournament copies the parliamentary system of nations, where a debate always commences before any policy is implemented. In every debate, there are always a proposition and an opposition team. These debaters would pose as government members, looking at whether a policy would bring benefit or harms to its people, rather than individuals with their own sets of values and interests. This way, debaters are forced to think objectively and thoroughly.

Different to the previous NDCs, this year's competition combined environmental aspects and concerns into its economic topics. This theme is currently trending as countries throughout the world are racing to find the most appropriate ways to balance economic growth and evironmental improvement or which to prioritize.

In order to play their roles correctly, the ITB delegates would have to understand the recent issues in economics and environment, wide and deep. For example, debaters are demanded not only to know that there are global schemes in solving climate change such as carbon tax, carbon trading, Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), technology transfer, and subsidy, but also to understand their exact mechanisms and degree of success, along with the side harms and benefits that may come with them.

During the debates, debaters are demanded to be able to show how their solution to the problem is the best or, at least, better than their opponents. They have to convey their ideas in a manner that is clear and convincing, although they are given freedom in inventing their own style without any rigid rule or guidelines. Each speaker is given 7 minutes to speak, so they would have to keep their speeches concise and straight to the point but deep at the same time.

1st Place in Three out of Four NDCs

NDC is an annual tournament held by the Social Development Economics Student Union of the Faculty of Economics of Padjadjaran University. In previous years, SEF-ITB has frequently dominated the tournament. These achievements include:
- 1st place in NDC 2008,
- 2nd place in NDC 2009 (1st place was taken by the STAN),
- 1st place in NDC 2010 (defeating STAN in the finals), and
- 1st and 2nd place in NDC 2011.

The delegates that won 1st place were Melliza Pretty Putri Utami (Environmental Engineering '08), Muhammad Pandu (Physics '06), and Luthfi Abdurrahman (Fine Arts '05). The ones that took 2nd place were Rifan Ibnu Rahman (Business and Management '09), Fathir Ramadhan (Industrial Engineering '08), and Farah Fitriana (Mathematics '05). The best speaker of the tournament was Muhammad Pandu.

Six Top Speakers

Throughout the tournament, the scores given by adjudicators for individual speakers were noted and accumulated so that they could be ranked. This ranking is then used to determine the best speakers.

In this NDC, all six ITB speakers received to rankings. This means that the first until the sixth best speakers of the tournament were from ITB, proving that not only they are superior in terms of team case and teamwork but also in individual speaking skills.