The 34th annual ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals, sponsored by IBM since 1997, took place February 3-7, 2010 in Harbin, China. The ICPC is the world’s most prestigious programming competition, providing university students with an opportunity to demonstrate their problem-solving, programming and teamwork skills. The teams at the world finals, consisting of three students and a coach, advanced from regional contests, have five hours to solve eight or more problems. The highest scoring team receives the World Champion cup and plaque, and is awarded $10,000.

This year’s contest, hosted by Harbin Engineering University, was won by Shanghai Jiaotong University. Taras Shevchenko Kiev National University received gold medals finishing in fourth place with 6 of 11 problems solved. Return to alma mater saw the Ukrainian team being given warm reception by KNU officials and representatives of the IT industry. Conducted March 15, the academic council was an interactive session whereby the attendees had a free interaction with each other – it enabled them to understand each others’ requirements bold and clear.

The parting words of Mykola Royenko, spoken on behalf of Miratech, emphasized the value of ICPC for the benefit of Ukrainian IT industry: “The contest is a platform for international industry and academia to focus public attention on the next generation of computing professionals as they pursue excellence. The victory of our team contributes to the growth of the University, to the growth of Ukraine as a whole. It promotes the worldwide demand both for Ukrainian IT companies and IT professionals brought up due to the united efforts of us all.”