Recently we interviewed our very own UWS Debating Society, to find out what its like being part of a society and how it can impact your university life.
Can you give a brief overview of the idea and the purpose of this society and what have you done this year?
Benny - “The purpose of the society is to help students gain public speaking skills and help them use critical thinking skills. From this they can come together, make friends and then go throughout the country into different competitions and meet new people all in the name of having fun.
At the start of this year, we went to St Andrew's for a competition. We've had meetings with Strathclyde for joint events. We've had a couple freshers events, which was our first chance to meet each other. We went to Manchester for another competition. We've done social events like laser tag and at the end of the year, we have been to a beach for a fun trip it, and through the year we've been having our twice weekly meetings. It's been pretty consistently going on.”
What do you think the main successes of the society have been this year and why?
Benny - "I'd say the main success of this society this year specifically has been consistency. In past years, it’s been a bit here and there with attendance but this year and last year we've been pretty consistent. We're getting members from different year groups to attend sessions and have had a better turnout than previously. I think we've put quite a lot into competitions. We've been more knowledgeable on what we're doing, instead of guessing. When we go to a competition now, we know the format and can assure members and train them a little bit better for going. I think that's been the main success, really finding our footing this year and then hopefully next year we can expand on that and give more."
Joshua - "I suppose it's a good way to make friends as well. It's close friendship. We all stick together, especially when we go to the contests. I mean we do well together. We do bad together. That's the main thing for me I suppose."
Cael - "I think this is the only society we can see that's actually going outside of Scotland, doing things elsewhere in the country, engaging actively with other universities and kind of broadening that student experience in a way that I think is really important. It's really useful for thinking about exams If you're in anything social science related. Knowing how to structure an argument is really helpful academically. And also everyone's quite nice!"
Dany - "Yeah, it's great because we've got to meet different people who we don't usually have a chance to talk too much. I joined in October and I've got to make some really good friends."
What do you think have been the main challenges for the society this year and why have they been challenging?
Benny - "Our main challenges have probably been organisation and getting everything done. The committee this year has just been basically me and Ruhi, but we only have a finite amount of time. Hopefully next year this will be a bit easier because we have a bigger committee, but yeah at the start of the year it was just me and Ruhi trying to do stuff and it was kind of hard to organise it and then do our uni work and stuff like this. But hopefully this problem will be much better next year."
Cael - "It's a fairly new society in the grand scheme of, you know, societies. It's not as established in terms of having a clear training structure to build people up. We've had a few events on the calendar that have dropped off because there's not a huge amount of us yet. I don't think UWS is a particularly huge university to begin with. So you know, it's maybe a challenge there.
You're getting people in and saying, "this is what debating is, this is how you refine your skills," in a way that people can go to competitions and challenge other universities. Even when they've got societies that have been established since before Queen Victoria took the throne. We're going up against them and they very clearly have professional people coming in who are paid to teach this. I think you need to find the balance of getting people engaged and wanting to go and building that up, without them being really demoralised when Oxford and Cambridge come and give you a bit of a slap down.
On the other side there's funding and finances. The bigger, more established universities can just pay for their teams to go here, there and everywhere. Next month there's a training camp in Porto, and if you're in Oxford, they'll just pay for the team to go, whereas for us we would need to pay out of our own pocket. There's a bit of a stigma that it's traditionally a very upper middle-class interest and fairly niche. There is still a financial barrier to entry for individuals.
There's kind of the organisation things for the committee and the society, then on the individual level, there's training and finances. I think it's important to split the two when thinking about it because they're very different challenges that need approached distinctly. I think Oxford paid about 30 grand just for the debate society tutor for one example."
What impact has your involvement in society had on your university course and your university experience?
Benny - "I would say it's helped me a lot with my confidence. When I came into university, I wasn't very confident, I was pretty shy, and I didn't really know anybody. Through going to the Debating Society and meeting new people, it has really helped my university experience. I felt a lot less lonely because when I came, I didn't want to speak to anybody but within the first few terms I met a bunch of people.
I've now met lots of people, all through the Debating Society. That's improved my confidence within my course. I feel more confident to talk to people in group work activities. I think its academically helped me as I've become a better team member. It definitely helps your public speaking and hopefully it can help with job interviews and other things similar."
Cael - "From the Dumfries campus point of view, the weekly attendance we have at the Debate Society is more than the Dumfries Social Work first and second year classes combined. When you've got a situation where there's not really much on or there's not the same size of classes as other campuses, having interesting and well-run societies are really useful to actually feel connected to the wider UWS student networking experience. When we're looking at trying to make things online to engage others, that then opens things up elsewhere and that's hopefully something we'll do a bit more of. That's something that's missing from, I think most of the societies and the university at large. There isn't anything that currently connects all the different campuses centrally. You might go to other campuses once or twice a year, but with this society it’s one of the few ways UWS is able to provide a sense of engagement with other campuses."
Joshua - "It has definitely impacted my confidence and public speaking. I'm usually a shy guy, but speaking at events and competitions is something you get more used to when you're in a society like this."
How do you think the society could be better supported to achieve its aims?
Benny - "If we could get more advertising maybe and more pushes not only from the union but form the university itself. Just more noise to do with societies would be great. This would help make sure that students do know about us as there have been people studying in Paisley for two years and they haven't heard that we exist. Probably on our part we need to post more on social media as well to help with that. Yeah, that's probably it. And you're normally there to help so it's not a true problem."
Cael - "Help with our fundraising so we can maximise how much we can raise."
Joshua - "Trying to spread the word, there's less posters around the university, with not just ours but all societies. If we got more exposure, I think all societies would agree that it would help people join societies and be a part of the union."
Dany - "Yeah, not everyone sees the posters in level 2, right? A lot of people don't attend usually because most of them are busy and don't even know the events are happening. It would also be good to get some international students as well so that they can make friends and learn more about the culture here and you know, just integrated into the university."
What's the most important benefit that you think you've gained from being part of the debating society this year?
Benny - "I think the friendships I've made and the skills I've learned have been very nice. I have also been able to experience lots of things that I never thought I would like going to St Andrews. It's not somewhere I was really wanting to go to beforehand but now that I've been I got to see how cool of a place it is. It's nice to get to see all the other universities. It's quite cool. The skills, the confidence, the public speaking, the critical thinking are all really fun and gives you something else to look forward to in your university week.
Cael - "I think having a society that is more mature in its themes is useful as a mature student with a professional background. Our socials aren't revolved around "Let's get hammered at the weekend!". The actual content is stuff that is intellectually stimulating, but you are still meeting other engaged and like-minded people."
Dany - "Making friends. Being able to do public speaking, especially for those who are reserved or want to open up their minds to different topics and issues. It's intellectually chellenging, so that's helpful at university."
Joshua - "Obviously the friendships and the memories. Almost every debate we have, something hilarious happens relating to an argument we have. Sometimes we have professional talks but sometimes we try not to take ourselves too seriously, because it's all about having fun at the end of the day. So yeah, a really, really good society.
If we've got new students starting, why should they join this society?
Benny - "New students should join the society because you make friends, have fun, gain skills you learn outside of your course and Hopefully travel the country."
A huge thank you to the Debating Society for sharing their thoughts and opinions of society life!
