The Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development will host China Central Television’s “Star of Outlook” Global Elite Debate Competition at the Kimmel Center for University Life on Friday and Saturday. The Global Elite Debate Competition seeks to create a dialogue between cultures by allowing Chinese and American students to engage in speeches and debates.

This is the second year CCTV will hold the competition in the United States — it launched its first series of debates at the University of Pennsylvania last year, where Steinhardt alumna YangYang Fang served as a lead organizer. After co-hosting the competition in Philadelphia, Fang pitched the idea to Steinhardt professors and was able to convince NYU to host the competition this year. The topics of this year’s debates and speeches will focus on education and its effect on culture, finance, environment, technology and philosophy.

“[Fang] believed that NYU, given its global reputation as a premier research university, would be an excellent location for this year’s competition and the university agreed,” NYU spokesman Philip Lentz said.

Fang, who will be moderating some debates this year, said she feels extremely honored to host the opening and closing ceremonies. She said she feels passionate about the program’s goals and said the broadcast would publicize NYU Shanghai.

“The event is education-focused, but wants students to have fun in the process of the debate,” Fang said. “We believe firmly in the success of the event, as the selected participating students have shown much enthusiasm and all preparations have been finalized.”

The competition, which will be broadcast on Chinese television later this year, is a partnership among CCTV, the Dong Fang International Center for Educational Exchange, the Allen Asia Alliance and the YC International Group.

“The Global Elite Debate Competition is a unique platform to promote knowledge exchange and cultural understanding between the young student leaders of China and the United States,” Dong Fang International U.S. representative Chen Wang said in a press release.

“Holding the event at NYU helps showcase the university’s global commitment to higher education,” Lentz said.

A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, Oct. 3 print edition. Ramiro S. Funez is a contributing writer. Email him at [email protected].