The Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) of the University of Macau (UM) and the Faculty of Engineering of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) recently jointly held the 2021/2022 International Collegiate Programming Contest (Asia Macau Regional Contest). The event attracted nearly 500 faculty members and students from more than 100 well-known universities around the world, who joined the competition either online or in-person to compete with each other using their programming skills.

This competition is known as one of the world's most influential undergraduate programming competition. Participants in the competition came from various universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Beihang University, University of Science and Technology of China, Southern University of Science and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, CUHK, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and UM. In order to popularise computer programming among secondary school students, the organising committee invited students from a total of 13 secondary schools in Macao to experience the activity. The schools included Pui Ching Middle School (Macau), Workers’ Children High School, and Hou Kong Middle School.

In the competition, each team was composed of up to three students, who had to solve 11 practical problems requiring the knowledge and skills of mathematical analysis, data structure, algorithm design and code writing within five hours. After solving a problem, the team would submit the answer to an online evaluation system. The team which solved the most problems in the shortest cumulative time would win the championship and would be qualified to enter the world finals. A team from Shanghai Jiaotong University won the championship, and teams from Tsinghua University and Beihang University won the second prize and the third prize, respectively.

Since 1970, the International Collegiate Programming Contest has served as a platform for programming competitions. The contest not only tests students' ability to write programmes as well as analyse and solve problems, but also focuses on cultivating students' creativity, logical thinking skills, team spirit, and ability to withstand pressure. As of today, over 50,000 students from more than 3,000 universities around the world have joined the contest and it has become one of the most well-known college programming competition in the world.