Participants at the seventh annual Qatar Collegiate Programming Contest.
Doha, Qatar: Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), a Qatar Foundation partner university hosted the seventh annual Qatar Collegiate Programming Contest (QCPC), bringing together 100 high school teams and 35 university teams to compete in a challenging test of coding and problem-solving.
The event provided a platform for young programmers to showcase their technical abilities, teamwork and problem-solving skills in an intensive, timed competition.
The contest was organised by the Hamad Bin Jassim Centre for Computer Science Education (HBJ Centre), a collaboration between CMU-Q and the Jassim and Hamad Bin Jassim Charitable Foundation. Prizes were generously sponsored by Doha Insurance Group.
“The Qatar Collegiate Programming Contest has helped create a community of young programmers in Qatar,” said dean of CMU-Q, Michael Trick.
“As young programmers develop their skills, this community flourishes and creates a culture of innovation, progress and creativity in Qatar.”
First held at CMU-Q in 2021, QCPC has grown to become the largest national programming competition in the GCC region.
CEO of the Jassim and Hamad Bin Jassim Charitable Foundation, Ali Ibrahim Al Gharib said, “We are proud to see the reach of the Qatar Collegiate Programming Contest continue to grow and attract such creative young minds. Equipping students with advanced computing skills is essential for driving innovation. The talent and determination on display this year give us great optimism for Qatar’s technological future.”
Throughout the two-day competition, participating teams tackled a series of complex programming challenges under strict time constraints, demonstrating their technical knowledge, creativity and ability to work together.
In the university track, teams from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar swept all three top positions, securing the gold, silver and bronze medals.
In the high school track, DPS-Modern Indian School secured the gold medal, Park House English School claimed the silver medal, while Birla Public School earned the bronze medal.
The top two university and high school teams will advance to the Africa and Arab Collegiate Programming Championship (ACPC), bringing them one step closer to competing on the international stage.
Assistant teaching professor of computer science, Eduardo Feo Flushing was part of the team that brought QCPC to Qatar in 2021, and today he serves as the lead organiser,
“The level of problem-solving we saw this year was outstanding. These students aren’t just writing code; they are operating under pressure to solve highly complex programming challenges. It is incredibly rewarding to witness the next generation of computer scientists pushing their limits and succeeding.”
