On October 23, the "Pioneer Cup" English Debate Competition—one of the series of events of the 5th Knowledge, Science and Culture Festival of Shenzhen MSU-BIT University—was successfully held at the Digital Economy Innovation Laboratory of the Experimental Teaching Center of the Department of Economics.
As an annual academic brand carefully developed by the Department of Economics, the "Pioneer Cup" English Debate Competition has been held for six consecutive years. This event is not only a practical stage for students to improve their comprehensive English proficiency, but also an important vehicle for honing logical and critical thinking, promoting interdisciplinary integration, and cultivating the spirit of teamwork. Over the past six years, the competition has consistently attracted active participation from teachers and students, earning a solid reputation on campus and receiving sustained attention.
This year's debate competition, themed "AI Applications and University Students' Competence Development," was open to all first-year students majoring in International Economics and Trade and FinTech, and attracted 48 teams to register enthusiastically. The event lasted one month, with 12 teams successfully advancing to the semifinals. After intense competition, two teams ultimately stood out and met in the final.
In the final, the affirmative and negative teams debated the motion "The Application of Artificial Intelligence Is More Beneficial Than Harmful to the Cultivation of University Students' Competencies." The affirmative team emphasized that AI, by providing personalized learning assistance, intelligent knowledge retrieval, and data analysis tools, significantly enhances students' efficiency in acquiring knowledge, broadening their horizons, and conducting research, and helps cultivate critical thinking and interdisciplinary integration skills, thereby empowering students' growth. The negative team sharply pointed out that over-reliance on AI may weaken university students' independent thinking, in-depth learning, and ability to solve problems autonomously; meanwhile, algorithmic bias and information cocoons may also limit students' cognitive breadth, thus posing potential challenges to competence development. Throughout the debate, both teams advanced their arguments layer by layer with rigorously logical points, detailed cases, and fluent English expression, presenting the judges and audience with a high-level feast of critical thinking and fully demonstrating SMBU students' in-depth reflection on cutting-edge educational issues.
After intense competition, the panel of judges ultimately selected three teams—champions, runners-up, and third-place winners—with 12 students receiving awards. Among them, the team composed of Wang Haoran, Liu Yaqi, Su Weilun, and Sun Tingfeng from Class 1 of International Economics and Trade won the championship of this year's competition with their outstanding performance. Su Heng, Head of the English Center, Zhang Yang, Director of the Student Affairs Department, and Professor Meng Fanchen, Chinese Director of the Department of Economics, jointly presented awards to the winning teams.
With six years of accumulation, the competition continues to write new chapters; in the clash of ideas, eloquence shines on the debate stage. The successful hosting of the "Pioneer Cup" English Debate Competition fully demonstrates the outstanding critical thinking skills and international perspective of Shenzhen MSU-BIT University students. Taking this as a new starting point, the Department of Economics will carry forward the pioneering spirit, build a more solid platform for growth, and cultivate outstanding talents capable of navigating a complex world—empowering them to ride the waves in the tide of globalization and jointly write a new chapter full of infinite possibilities.
