Swabi, March 31, 2022 (PPI-OT):GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology successfully organized “The 2021 ICPC Asia Topi Regional Onsite Contest” on 19-20th March, 2022. The International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) is a team-based, programming competition that fosters problem-solving, programming and teamwork skills amongst university students around the globe. It is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious programming contest in the world and considered as the “World Cup of Computing”.
ICPC involves a network of dozens of universities hosting regional competitions. Participation in Regionals has grown to thousands of the finest students in computing disciplines at over 3,322+ universities from over 115 countries in six continents. The winner team of Regionals qualifies for ICPC World Finals to compete with some of the best teams from around the globe.
The event was inaugurated with a tech talk “Fuzzing” by Engr. Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad, a Software Engineer from Google. This informative and enlightening zoom session of about 1.5 hours was held at the A.H.A Auditorium of the GIK Institute. Around 47 teams, 141 contestants from different universities of Pakistan participated in the regional contest.
These 47 teams were shortlisted from a pool of 143 teams through The 2021 ICPC Asia Topi Online Preliminary Contest which was held earlier on 25-26 January, 2022. Students from all campuses of NUCES-FAST, Punjab University College of Information Technology, Habib University, Information Technology University, Institute of Business Administration, Capital University of Science and Technology, University of Wah, Muhmmad Ali Jinnah University, Hamdard University, COMSAT and GIK Institute actively participated in the competition.
Four gold, four silver and four bronze medals were awarded to the top twelve teams. The first gold medal was bagged by Omar Kashif Majeed, Muhammad Zulfiqar Ali and Hamza Hasan Ellahie (Team Pentateuch) from GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, mentored by Mr. Jalees Ur Rahman. The second gold medal was won by Aadesh Kumar, Wahaj Ameen, Zohaib Yousuf (Team Trojans 1) from NU- FAST Karachi, the team was coached by Mr. Muhammad Rafi. Muhammad Usama Azam, Syed Muhammad Abdur Rafay and Rao Ubaid Ullah (Team SignBit) mentored by Mr. Kifayat Ullah Khan from NU-FAST Islamabad won the third gold medal. The fourth gold medal was won by Muhammad Baqir, Muhammad Waleed Khalid, and Muhammad Kashif Ali Tariq (Team Algo Geeks) from PUCIT mentored by Mr. Abdul Mateen. The winners of the First Gold Medal will be further participating in the 46th ICPC World Finals that are expected to be held in Australia.
A panel of ten judges presided the contest with Dr. Syed Fawad Hussain as a Chief Judge from GIK Institute. Dr. Muhammad Hanif, Dr. Raja Hashim Ali, Dr. Rashid Jillani and Dr. Usman Habib also joined from GIK Institute. Ms. Ayesha Siddiqa joined from Noon, Dubai. The judging committee further comprised of Dr. Umar Suleman, Dr. Syed Farooq Ali from University of Management Technology, Dr. Arshad Islam from FAST-NUCES Islamabad and Dr. Yasir Niaz Khan from University of Lahore.
The Chief Guest, Mr. Osman Nasir, Managing Director of the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) distributed gold medals and certificates to the winning teams. He said that in era of information revolution, information technology must be conceived broadly to encompass the information that businesses create and use as well as a wide spectrum of increasingly convergent and linked technologies that process the information. He stated that such competitions are a great leap forward for the nation, admiring the efforts of GIK Institute and ICPC Asia Topi for organizing the mega event.
Dr. Fazal Ahmad Khalid, Rector, GIK Institute said that taking initiative, conducting result- oriented research and work for innovation would enable us to move forward and acquire a unique place comity of nations. Special Guest, Dr. Aftab Maroof, Rector NUCES-FAST spoke words of motivation to the students emphasizing on how each person can make a difference and contribute to the welfare and development of Pakistan by means of entrepreneurship and innovation.
Ms. Ayesha Siddiqa, an ICPC Asia Topi sponsor from Noon spoke about her ICPC journey and how it helped her land a job at Noon, Dubai. Speaking on behalf of Noon Ms. Ayesha said that Noon will be hiring the top candidates of the ICPC Asia Topi Contest by August, 2022. Mr. Rana Asif Rabbani, Director Uworx and an ICPC Asia Topi sponsor joined live via zoom session and appreciated the efforts of Dr. Masroor Hussain and his team for creating such platforms for the students and motivating them to participate international coding contests.
Dr. Masroor Hussain, Director ICPC spoke about the improvements in students programming skills over a couple of years through ICPC contests. He emphasized the need and support of such competitions to enhance the coding skills of the youth so they can compete and win contests on an international level.
ICPC Asia Topi appreciates the relentless efforts of its core team Dr. Masroor Hussain, Director ICPC Asia Topi, Sarah Sajjad, Deputy Regional Contest Director, Mr. Ehtisham Hassan, Event Coordinator, Shakir Ahmad and Usman Haider as Systems Co-chairs. A special thanks to Saad Ismail from Estonia, Systems Co-chair. We also admire the valuable support of the judging committee for their significant contribution in the event and the GIK ACM society for putting the event together. We are highly indebted to Prof. Dr. Fazal A. Khalid, Rector GIK Institute, Prof. Dr. Wasim A. Khan, Pro-Rector (A), Sardar Aminullah Khan (Pro-Rector A and F), and Dr. Ahmar Rashid (Dean FCSE) for their overwhelming support and cooperation in organizing the event.
Special thanks to Noon for their generous sponsorship towards this mega event. ICPC Asia Topi gave a total sponsorship of around Rs. 400,000 to the students as concession in registration fees and travel charges. This was not possible without the support of ICPC Asia Topi sponsors who have been the backbone of the event. Special thanks to Pakistan Software Export Board, Tech Destination Pakistan, Ministry of IT and Telecom, Higher Education Commission Pakistan, UWorx, Geniteam, Airlift Express, Noon, Axis Mall and Toyota Khyber.
For more information, contact:
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI)
Topi 23640, District Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Tel: +92-938-281026
Fax: +92-938-281032, +92-938-281041
Website: https://www.giki.edu.pk/
