With Syria’s participation, the experimental phase of ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), kicked off in Beijing on Wednesday in which 147 teams representing 47 countries are taking part.

The official ICPC which kicks off April 19 lasts until 20.

Syrian teams, including 22 student and supervisors, participating in the contest represent the Universities of Damascus, Tishreen and al-Baath, in addition to the High Institute for Applied Sciences and Technology.

Each team consists of three students and a coach. The contestants work on a single computer to solve a set of life issues programmatically within five continuous hours.

The teams which solve the highest numbers of problems in the shortest period of time will be declared winners.

In turn, Rector of the Faculty of Information Engineering at Tishreen University Jaafar Al-Khair said that Syria’s participation affirms its scientific capability despite the terrorist war, noting that the preparations for the competition were organized all the year round, the latest of which was the organization by the competition’s management of a closed training camp for the teams qualifying to China at the Higher Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology