Canberra College student Egshiglen Chuluunhuu is among that group, heading to Germany next month after securing a place on the national schools debating team.

She will face off against students from at least 66 countries over 10 days at the World Schools Debating Championship in Stuttgart.

The progression to national debating representative would not have been obvious to her peers when Egshiglen, or Eggy, took up the competition.

"Up until about year 9, I was someone who was pretty introverted, pretty shy, terrified of public speaking," she said.

"It was one of my English teachers who said debating is not necessarily about public speaking, it's about having a passion as to how the world should work and that desire to identify problems and come up with solutions collaboratively."

Debating has allowed Eggy to explore and contest issues in topics including economics, sex and gender, international relations and indigenous affairs.

She balances her time debating between studying the International Baccalaureate and ACT Senior Secondary Certificate, while also volunteering for the Red Cross, and helped found her college's Interact Club.

Eggy was selected for national representation after competing as part of the ACT team at the national championships in Sydney last month.

The team came third, and Eggy impressed the judges with her views on topics such as "we should give the Northern Territory to indigenous Australians" and "we should ban cosmetic procedures and products designed to alter an individual's racial appearance".

The Australian team will know three of the topics in advance of the world championships, but there remains a lot of pressure on the students on the stage.

"The Australian team generally does pretty well and I think we have a good chance, but it will be tough," she said.

"When I found out I was [on the team], I was kind of paralysed; someone had to tap me to get me off my seat. It's been a long-time dream of mine."

The competition runs from July 19 to July 29.