Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Event Photographs

Policy Studies 2009 committee would like to extend its gratitude to everyone for their support.

View Preliminaries Photo

View Finals Photo

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Policy Studies 2009 Grand Finals: Moral and Ethical Dilemmas in Policymaking

Join us at the POLICY STUDIES 2009 GRAND FINALS!


"Moral and Ethical
Dilemmas in Policymaking"


Policy Studies 2009 is an inaugural debate series organized by the NUS Students' Political Association.
The finalist teams have emerged from amongst the best across Singapore and will be meeting at the Finals to debate:

Should pornography be legalized in Singapore?

Date: 13 March 2009 (Friday)
Venue: Business LT 17
Time: 6.15pm
Admission: Free, Open to Public

Guest-of-Honour:
Mr Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports

Distinguished judges:
A/Prof Cheah Wui Ling (Faculty of Law)
A/Prof Kate Nicholls (Department of Political Science, FASS)
A/Prof Daniel Pellerin (Department of Political Science, FASS)

Other than the exciting debate, there will be
- Door gifts for first 100 participants
- An informative exhibition to learn more about the debate topics
- Refreshments

Register your seats today by sending in your name, contact number, year of study and course (for NUS students) to policystudies@nuspa.org to avoid disappointment!

This event is sponsored by Lakerol, Kimage and PUB.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Rules & Regulations


1. 1. Eligibility

1.1. All undergraduate students from the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore Management University (SMU) and Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) are eligible to take part in Policy Studies 2009.

1.2. Students from foreign universities who are on an exchange program in any of the universities are also welcome to participate.

1.3. All students registered in local Junior Colleges and Secondary Schools are eligible to take part as well.

2. Teams

2.1. Each team must comprise four members, with no more than two members with formal debating training, so as to ensure an even playing field.

2.2. The members do not need to be from the same institution, year of study or course of study.

2.3. Each team has to nominate a team leader who will be the primary point of contact for the Organizer.

2.4. Teams have the option to submit the name of a substitute, who will be allowed to replace any member during any round of the competition. Swapping of team members will not be allowed except with the indicated substitute.

2.5. If more than 16 teams register for the competition, spaces will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The other teams will be put on the waiting list and will be notified if any of the first 16 teams withdraws from the competition.

3. Preliminary Round

3.1. The Preliminary Round will be held on 9 March in two sessions, 5.00–6.30 pm and 6.30–8.00 pm. Each team will only have to attend one session. Teams may indicate their preferred timeslot on the registration form, but spaces will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

3.2. Matchups will be decided by the Organizer and teams will be assigned “Proposition” and “Opposition” at random.

3.3. The Organizer will release the motions on 3 March to provide teams with approximately one week of preparation time.

3.4. Only for the Preliminary Round: Each team is to submit a summary of their arguments. It should be type-written in Arial Font Size 12, single-spacing, and it can include charts, graphs and other visual aids to enhance the clarity of the arguments. The entire summary should not exceed two A4 pages. 1 soft copy and 3 printed copies of the summary are to be submitted on the day of the Preliminary Round.

3.5. Speakers will deliver their speeches in a fixed sequence:
• Proposition 1st Speaker (4 min)
• Opposition 1st Speaker (4 min)
• Proposition 2nd Speaker (4 min)
• Opposition 2nd Speaker (4min)
• Proposition 3rd Speaker (4min)
• Opposition 3rd Speaker (4 min)
• Opposition Reply Speaker (5 min)
• Proposition Reply Speaker (5 min)

3.6. Teams are to adhere to the maximum time allocated to each speaker, as indicated in point 1.5 above.

3.7. There will be a 30 second interval in between speakers for the adjudicators to tally their scores.

3.8. Each debate ends with an oral adjudication and a winning team will be chosen.

3.9. At the end of the Preliminary Round, the top four teams with the best scores will advance to the Semi-Final round. The results will be announced on 10 March.

3.10. A “Most Promising Team” will also be chosen amongst the remaining teams that did not qualify for the Final round. The winner of the title will be announced during the Grand Finals.

4. Final Round

4.1. The Final Round will be held on 13 March from 6.15 pm.

4.2. Finalist teams will be assigned “Proposition” and “Opposition” at random.

4.3. The motion will be released on 11 March.

4.4. Teams are not required to submit summaries for the Finals

4.5. The format of the Final round will follow points 3.5–3.7 above. However, there is an additional 10-minute Question and Answer round for the Semi-Finals. Adjudicators may pose questions to specific speakers or to the teams in general. Each response per speaker is limited to 45 seconds.

4.6. The debates end with an oral adjudication and a champion team will emerge.

5. Miscellaneous

5.1. The Organizer shall be entitled to use and reproduce the summaries submitted by the teams, as well as the photos and videos taken during the competition for educational and/or promotional purposes.

5.2. The Organizer reserves the right to interrupt a speech at any point during the competition should it be deemed inappropriate or offensive.

5.3. The Organizer reserves the right to disqualify a team at any point during the competition should there be a breach of the rules and regulations of Policy Studies 2009.

Please visit www.policy-studies.blogspot.com or email policystudies@nuspa.org for more information.

About Policy Studies

Policy Studies (PS) 2009 is an inaugural debate series targeted at all youths across Singapore. It provides an avenue for youths to analyse local public policies and engage in meaningful crossfire. The proposed theme is “Moral and Ethical Dilemmas in Policymaking”. The competition should prove to be a battle of brains, a war of words.

Policy Studies is organized with three main objectives:
  1. To promote political awareness and generate interest in current affairs amongst undergraduates

  2. To encourage critical and creative thinking about local and regional government policies in terms of:
    a. Policy environment (context-specific considerations)
    b. Policy analysis (outcomes and inadequacies)

  3. To crystallize the discussions in a set of final recommendations for submission to the relevant authorities
Date & Time

Preliminary Rounds will be held on 9 Mar 2009 in 2 sessions (5-6.30pm and 6.30-8pm). This is to accommodate students with different timetables who may prefer one slot to the other.

Finals will be held on 13 Mar at 6pm. We are honoured to have Mr Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports to grace the event.