UCT takes third computer science title

UCT's flag flew high at the Standard Bank IT-Challenge last week. The university took first spot, beating out the University of the Western Cape, Stellenbosch University, the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

This was the third annual IT Challenge and the third time UCT won. (It was the same team that won the competition in its inaugural year.)

In the team were Carl Hultquist (PhD student, computer science), Christopher de Kadt (master's student, computer science), James Gray (MSc, mathematics), and Bruce Merry (PhD student, computer science).

Standard Bank says the contest is an opportunity to get to know the high flyers in the country's information technology faculties.

The UCT team solved all five problems, without errors and with 30 minutes to spare.

Computer science's Donald Cook said: 'This was quite a surprise for the judges from the British Computer Society who had never seen such a faultless performance previously.'

Stellenbosch was second, solving three problems.

The winners received Apple Mac Duo laptops and the UCT department of computer science received R125 000. This goes into a fund to support students participating in competitions.