GUST Participates in a Worldwide Programming Competition

• Millions of people worldwide participated in the Hour of Code competition

• Participants were taught the basics of programming and were tested on them through activities & games.

• The Computer Science Program at GUST is the first to be accredited by ABET in Kuwait

Gulf University for Science and Technology’s (GUST) Computer Science Department invited students and faculty last week, to participate for the first time in the Hour of Code worldwide programming competition to engage students and faculty, and raise awareness about the growing Computer Science program at the university. The event is part of the global competition organized by code.org, which took place in state of the art computer labs on campus.

The top three participants from GUST were awarded certificates and prizes by the CS Department. Winners of the student division were: Sumana Abbas, Haya AlKhaled, and Ebrahim Buhendi, while the faculty and staff division winners were: Anwar AlZayer, Professor Ali Ansari, and Aisha Seixas.

Dr. Taher Ali, Head of the Computer Science Department at GUST, said, “It is important for us to participate in this event, to give our students and faculty a look in to the programming world. Computer Science impacts every industry, and we are proud to continuously strengthen our program, curriculum, and to stay up-to-date with the latest worldwide developments”. GUST’s Computer Science program was the first in Kuwait to be accredited by international body ABET, in 2014.

The tutorial and competition session introduced the basics of computer programming for those with no prior knowledge and consisted of a series of activities & games, which ended with a competition utilizing what they learned in the tutorial. The entries were then submitted to code.org for a full roundup of participants from all over the world. Millions of people from over 180 countries participated in the movement. Code.org is a non-profit organization that aims to encourage people, particularly school students in the United States, to learn computer science as it helps nurture problem-solving skills, logic, and creativity.