On October 25, 2018, the debate event under the theme “Problems and prospects of tourism and financial aspects of the tourism business in Kazakhstan: a youth perspective” was held at the faculty of Higher School of Business and Economics of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. It was organized by the department "Finance" and 2nd year master students. The main topics of debate such as “Kazakhstan is a tourist oasis! It is a myth!”, “Tourism should be a priority sector of the economy!”, “Why Kazakhstan does not develop digital tourism: a view of young people”, “Who should invest in domestic tourism: state or private business?” were devoted to a deep study of the tourism potential of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

A total of 11 teams from different faculties of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, specialties of Biotechnology, Information Security Systems, Ecology, Finance, Accounting and auditing, Automation and control, information systems and computer science participated in the debates.

The debates were organized in three languages, where participants had a chance to discuss in Kazakh, Russian or English languages. 3 teams in Kazakh, 4 in Russian and 4 in English were declared, and debates were held on a Karl Popper format, which consists of elements of a political case, and performs as a complex system of reasoned dispute. Member of the department and master students acted as a jury at the debate.

At the debates held in the Kazakh language, the 1st place was assigned to the team “Alash” (specialty - automation and control), 2nd place - “Uniteam” (specialty - automation and control), 3rd place - “Parasat” (specialty - accounting and audit) .

At the debates held in Russian, the team “Ecologists” was awarded 1st place (specialty - ecology), 2nd place - “NurSibTor” (specialty - information security system), 3rd place - “Wolves from Wall Street” (specialty - biotechnology).

At the debates held in English, the 1st place was given to the team “Debate mates” (specialty - computer science), 2nd place - “NIS” (specialty - information systems), 3rd place - “Eagles” (specialty - radio engineering).

The jury of the competition noted a high level of English proficiency, strict adherence to the format and culture of debating, the ability to defend the point of view and effective teamwork. The organizers awarded the winners and participants with diplomas, the strongest speakers as well were awarded with certificates. Professor Sayabek Tattbekbeky presented the prizes to the winners and participants with the sponsor of student debates, the head of the PTsF project “Diversification of the tourism industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the transition to a digital economy: strategy and implementation mechanisms”.