The Department of Computer Science at University College Cork initiated
a programme, the Munster Programming Training (MPT) in 2004 in order to
engage secondary school students in working with IT. Given the lack of
IT training provided by schools, UCC is attempting to offer a
significant introduction into the field, to educate students about what
really happens in IT-related work, and to attract good talent into the
field.
As a result of the programme's initial success, ten secondary school
students from last year's MPT class were selected to participate in
advanced training in Computer Programming. The program consisted of 10
formal and practical classes delivered on Wednesdays 3-5 pm by Dr Sabin
Tabirca and lecturers in Computer Science. Professor Gregory Provan,
Head of Computer Science presented the students with Certificates of
Achievements in recognition of the work they put into the course.
Past competition silver medal recipients from MPT Cycle 1 are: John
Tabirca of St Peter's Community School, Passage West and Sean Creagh of
Douglas Community School. The bronze medal achievers are: Cian O'Mahony
of Christian Brothers College and Mark O'Loughlin of Coláiste Chríost
Rí. Proud winners of the gold medal award are: Barry Hurley of
Gaelcholáiste Colaim, Ballincollig and Patrick Dunne of Gaelcholáiste
Mhuire A.G., An Mhainistir Thuaidh.
The topics taught in the course covered specialised elements of
computing which are of key importance in developing software solutions
in a wide range of areas. These include, among others: medical
diagnosis, image recognition, artificial intelligence animation and
television graphics as well as many other application areas which are
having a growing impact on our day-to-day lives. One of the main
objectives of the Department of Computer Science is to produce
graduates with the necessary skills, training and academic competencies
to work in these, and other leading edge research & development
areas.
The classes will be very useful for students as they will participate
in the final round of the All Ireland School Programming Competition
due to be held in Dublin City University on 28th of January 2006.
The lecturers involved in this training hope that the training program
will help at least one or two students from the class make the Irish
Team for the International Olympiad in Informatics that will be held in
Mérida, Yucatán, México, August 2006.
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