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Saar University shines: silver medal at the European programming championship!
The Saarland University team wins silver at the ICPC European Championships in Porto and qualifies for the world finals.
Saar University shines: silver medal at the European programming championship!
In an outstanding competition, the team of Saarland University at the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) won the silver medal. This success took place on March 21, 2025, when the European Championships were held at the University of Porto in Portugal. Participation in this important tournament marks the third time that the university has qualified for the World Finals, which will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan in September 2025.
The ICPC's competitive elements attract more than 50,000 participants annually from over 3,000 universities worldwide. This year, 53 universities competed, including five German universities, three of which qualified for the world finals. The team from Saarland University, consisting of Yasmine Briefs, Majid Garoosi and Dominykas Marma, achieved sixth place overall and thus received the silver medal. The tasks included complex algorithmic problems such as optimizing Morse code and arranging city parks.
Successful competitive strategy
The result is not only a testament to the students' skills, but also to the intensive preparation they received through the collaborative project's "Competitive Programming" program with the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science receive. Under the guidance of experienced coaches, such as Egor Gorbachev and Simon Schwarz, the participants were prepared in a practical manner for the demanding challenges of the competition. Travel to the various competitions is financed by the Max Planck Institute.
Particular attention should be paid to the team's previous success. On December 12, 2023, the same team won another ICPC competition, the North West European Regional Contest (NWERC), a gold medal. This represents the best placement for a German university in almost ten years. The team “<(OvO)>” from Saar University solved 11 of 12 tasks and secured second place out of 143 participating teams.
Sustainable success and outlook
The university's outstanding achievements continue: the team has also qualified for the upcoming European Championships in March 2024 in Prague and for the World Championships in September 2024 in Astana, Kazakhstan. This is the second year in a row that Saar University has the best German team at the NWERC, which underlines the academic excellence and innovative training in computer science at the institution.
The members of the gold medal team bring impressive academic backgrounds: Asadullo Ganiev is a master's student in computer science, Janine Lohse is planning a doctorate in programming languages, while Egor Gorbachev is preparing for a doctorate in theoretical computer science. Their successes and the commitment of everyone involved demonstrate the importance of teamwork and support in the academic world.