Events & News

April 3, 2009 The UAE National Programming Contest 2009 was held last Thursday April 3, 2009, at the UAE University of Al-Ain. Hosted by the College of Information Technology, the eight edition of this inter-universities competition featured the participation of 34 teams of university students from 14 academic intuitions region-wide. After a spectacular opening ceremony attended by the UAE University leadership as well as participating teams, the students made their way to the contest hall where they competed in solving nine programming problems. Both the correctness of the presented solutions and the time at which these solutions were submitted determine their final rank.

Dr. Donald Bowen, Associate Provost at the UAE University stated in his Welcome speech, that “the National Programming Contest demands that competitors master their creativity and skills to unleash their natural talents. It is also represents an opportunity to identify an elite in our young men and women – those talented individuals that have what it takes to help us achieve our ambitious goals for an innovation-based society”. Dr Wassim El-Hajj, Chair of the Organizing Committee said “the organization of the contest stimulates a sense of pride in creating a forum for talented students from the country and beyond to meet and compete”. Dr Saad Harous, CIT Team Coach, mentioned that “the resolution of the problems put forward by the judging committee, from different UAE Universities, requires critical thinking and timely decision-making”.

Despite the tense competition environment, the organization of the event was held in a friendly mood, where the selected elite of students had opportunities to meet and exchange educational experiences. The College of Information Technology (CIT) provided an excellent platform for the students to engage in this prestigious event, using state-of-the-art facilities ranging from dedicated halls conducive to innovative thinking to theater-like venues to entertain participants. The efforts of the CIT organizing team were highly appreciated by both participants and guests. “The CIT aims at playing a technology-diffusing role across the society by stimulating innovators and young elite to emerge around the nation” said Dr. Adel Serhani, a member of the Contest Organizing Committee. It is worth mentioning that the CIT is also pioneering an inter-high schools competition around IT related theme as well shortly in the same month. “These competitions represent an indication of the strength of community outreach links being extended to all layers of the society in general, and the education landscape in particular, as well as the community-engaged role of the College of Information Technology at the UAE University” said Prof Boumediene Belkhouche, Acting Dean of the CIT.

The Contest concluded with a sense of pride from all participants who took part in this competition. Besides the top three winning teams, all participants were recognized as they won the local contest arranged by their individual institutions to qualify for the National Contest.