Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) students have claimed their best medal haul in history from the International Collegiate Program Contest (ICPC Asian Regional). After the competition in Hong Kong on December 1, SUSTech students had claimed three gold, six silver, and 16 bronze medals across provincial, national, and Asian regional of the ICPC in 2019.

Three hundred thirty-six teams from 202 universities across Asian regional competed in 2019 ICPC (Shanghai), with SUSTech won an Asian gold medal with university ranking 18^th, and team ranking 26^th. In the 2019 ICPC (Xuzhou), the SUSTech team won the “First Solution Award” by first solving problem C among all 300+ teams competing in the Asian regional in the contest.

The SUSTech Programming Competition Team was established in September 2017. The Department of Computer Science and Engineering is responsible for organizing and training the team. The SUSTech Programming Competition Team trains together regularly as well as conducting high-level training during vacations. They also improve their technical abilities through regular competition.

Since their establishment, they have now earned four gold, seven silver, and eighteen bronze medals in ICPC Asian regional. Their historical records also include two silver and seven bronze medals in the Chinese Collegiate Programming Contest (CCPC). In the Guangdong Collegiate Programming Contest (GDCPC), the team received two gold, three silver, and ten bronze medals.

The International Collegiate Programming Contest was initiated by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Each competition is divided into two phases:

1. Regional competitions (taking place around the world from September to December); and
2. World Final (taking place during April and May).

The competition demonstrates students’ ability to innovate, work together, analyze, and problem-solve. The International Collegiate Programming Contest has been running for 44 years and has become the most influential computer programming competition for college students. It is now known as the computer programming Olympiad. The China Higher Education Society has also listed the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest as one of the 19 authoritative competitions in the White Paper on Chinese University Subject Competition. It has become a critical competition to highlight the achievements of innovative university talent training programs in academic competitions.