Kolkata and Hyderabad declared winners of the GREAT Debate
The competition was organised across the eight cities of Delhi, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Chennai, Trivandrum and Jaipur.
The Birla Institute of Technology and Science-Pilani, Hyderabad and the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata have won the GREAT Debate competition organised by the British High Commission in association with Virgin Atlantic. The four students Reeti Sarkar, Sateja Paradkar, Arindrajit Basu and Pratik Ranjan Das will fly in style with Virgin Atlantic to the United Kingdom for a week long sponsored study tour.
Following the success of the GREAT Debate competition held earlier this year in Delhi and Kolkata, British High Commission and Virgin Atlantic decided to make the event bigger and better this year.
The winning team from each city battled it out at the grand finale on 27 November.
Earlier during the day the finalists met and interacted with HRH the Duke of York and Smriti Irani, Indian Union Minister for Human Resource Development. Later in the evening they debated on several themes around universal health and education, India’s demographic strength, big business and CSR activities, women’s rights and social media and privacy.
The winners were selected by an esteemed panel of judges which included:
- Andrew Soper, Minister Counsellor, British High Commission, New Delhi
- Nick J Parker, Head, India and Middle East, Virgin Atlantic
- Smita Prakash, Editor, Asian News International
Sir James David Bevan KCMG, British High Commissioner to India said:
The GREAT Debate is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the UK and India’s shared tradition of lively, reasoned debate and our close educational ties. It will also strengthen our links with universities across India who have been excellent partners in helping us host these debates in their cities. The debate also highlights a well-established, broad-ranging and expanding partnership on education that UK and India share.
Nick J Parker, Country Head, India and Middle East, Virgin Atlantic said:
The GREAT Debate is an exciting platform for the young enthusiasts to participate in and it’s amazing to see all the brilliant ideas and foresight they bring to table. Students are such an important part of every society, they are the future, the movers and shakers. It’s been an enriching experience being associated with British High Commission for this year’s GREAT Debate and we look forward to many more such interactions with the young minds.
Video of the GREAT Debate 2: Winners share their experience of participating in the competition.
Video of the GREAT Debate 2: Winners share their experience of participating in the competition.
Chevening Scholarships, British Council and Virgin Atlantic partnered with the British High Commission to organise this GREAT Debate competition across India.
Further Information:
Please visit the following websites for more information:
Stuart Adam, Head,
Press and Communications
British High Commission, Chanakyapuri
New Delhi 110021
Tel: 44192100; Fax: 24192411
Mail to:Sakthy Edamaruku
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Storify, Eventbrite, Blogs, Foursquare, Youtube