Four students from Bahrain Polytechnic will travel to the French capital to attend the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) Mediation Competition on February; a weeklong contest which tests the contenders’ negotiation and debating skills in form of scenarios and role-playing.
The competition, set to be only for university students from law and business schools, will bring together 500 participants from various universities from more than 40 countries, and the Polytechnic will be proud to present Bahrain’s first ever participation in the event.
Bahrain Polytechnic is currently the only institute in the GCC to provide a comprehensive course exclusively on alternative dispute resolution to its undergraduates, which gives the students the opportunity to experiment what they have learnt in the contest.
Alison Reynolds, Bahrain Polytechnic’s Head of the Business School expressed her excitement towards joining the decade old competition which runs annually at the ICC headquarters in Paris.
“I’m thrilled to see us not only as the first institution in Bahrain to join the competition, but the first in the GCC as well.
“The competition our students are joining is much related to their courses, especially in the law field and the mediation skills they learnt from their alternative dispute resolution course.” added Ms. Reynolds. “The only difference is that they will be using what they have learnt outside the classroom.”
The ICC Mediation Competition format consists of two teams (the Requesting Party and the Responding Party) and a mediator, in which the teams will settle commercial dispute scenarios specially drafted by international mediation experts.
After successfully registering in the competition, the teams are given some factual information of a certain scenario and, depending on what party they represent, given the ‘confidential’ information right before the competition starts in which the party can use to their advantage.
“It’s an exciting debate that our students are motivated to be a part of.” continued Ms. Reynolds.
“The business students will have around 2 hours per session, in which judges will be present to evaluate the team which won. Five days later, the final will take place between the two teams.”
The Polytechnic students will be competing with over 60 universities from around the globe and Ms. Reynolds admitted that the students will enjoy a weeks’ worth of experience.
“Although we want our students to progress as far as they can in the tournament, we also want them to make use out of the experience they will gain from all the professionals attending during the week.
“They will be able to network with an international community and learn so much from them. Some of the students haven’t been to France so they will make the most out of the trip.” concluded Ms. Reynolds.
Bahrain Polytechnic’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mohamed Al-Aseeri expressed his pleasure towards joining this international competition which runs annually at the ICC headquarters in Paris.
Dr Al Aseeri met the team members who will represent the polytechnic and provided them with his advices and encourage them to put all their efforts to represent Bahrain on the best possible way.
“I’m excited to see our students to be the first to represent the Kingdom of Bahrain in this international competition and to participate in creating the new history for Bahrain to be the first country in the GCC to be accepted to participate”, stated Dr Al Aseeri.
“We at Bahrain Polytechnic are looking forward to compete with the other 60 international institutes and to be classified among the best teams. We are considering our acceptance as evidence on the great efforts of the academic members at the polytechnic and we will keep being consistent in enhancing our academic quality to meet the requirements of Bahrain’s 2030 vision.” concluded Dr. Mohamed Al-Aseeri.
To find out more about the competition, visit the ICC website at www.iccwbo.org.