24 October 2025
Bilbao Campus
The University of Deusto will hold the 25th Academic Debate League from 23 to 25 October, a training exercise designed to promote critical thinking and the art of argumentation through the analysis of current issues. On this occasion, the participating teams will discuss the question: "Do the actions of the State of Israel in Palestine since 7 October 2023 constitute genocide?"
Over the course of five rounds and organised into groups, 72 students — 50 from various faculties of Deusto and 22 from Pontificia Comillas University, ESADE, the University of the Balearic Islands, CEU Cardenal Herrera, and the Colegio Mayor San Agustín of Santiago de Compostela — will alternately argue for and against the motion before a panel of university lecturers.
The final debate, featuring the two highest-scoring teams, will take place on Saturday, 25 October, at 12:30 at the Gernika Assembly Hall, a symbolic venue for encounter and dialogue among the peoples of Biscay. The President of the General Assembly, Ana Otadui, and the Rector of the University of Deusto, Juan José Etxeberria, will take part in this final.
Since its first edition, this academic competition — part of the activities of the Deusto Debate Club — has established itself as a space for meeting and reflection among young people from universities who share a commitment to building a more critical, just, and cohesive society through dialogue and thought.
