KUALA LUMPUR: The recently held UCSI University Programming Competition (UPC) finals on Jan 31, 2013 saw finalists locked in tight competition for the champion and 1st runner-up titles. 

The event kicked off at 9.30am with an inspiring speech by School of IT head Ms Chloe Thong before the five groups of finalists presented their innovative entries. 

"The idea behind this event is to embark on our "now everyone can do programming" tagline - an approach to inspire and enhance our students' programming skills," said Ms Chloe Thong during her speech. 

Although it was tough to come to a final decision, the panel of judges - comprising Ms Chloe Thong and senior lecturer Dr. Noor Anida Zaria, among other School of IT members - finally selected the winners - two students from the School of IT, namely, Mr Adam Pahlevi Baihaqi as the champion and Mr Ali Reza Farid Amin as the 1st runner-up - who received their award from FOBIS dean Associate Professor Dr Toh Kian Kok. Both students are from the School of IT. 

The competition aimed to engage UCSI students in fun yet challenging computer programming-related extracurricular activities and was a joint effort between the Faculty of Business and Information Science (FoBIS) and the Information Technology Student Association (ITSA). 

The event also provided an ideal platform for students to demonstrate their programming skills by encouraging them to propose and develop a project - necessitating them to come up with creative real-life IT solutions - in their preferred programming language. Students were also able to gain deeper knowledge and improve their skills - in terms of programming - that would surely help them in their final year project. 

All student participants were coached by the School's IT lecturers and learned fundamental skills through various workshops - such as workshops that focused on enhancing one's presentation skills - that were organised for UCSI University students. 

Notably, the competition was designed for both IT and non-IT students alike. And by implementing the "Now Everyone Can Do Programming" approach - a concept that aims to enhance the students' programming skills - the School of IT and ITSA will continuously organise similar events in hopes of nurturing more quality programmers.