On May 5, 2018 at the Institute of Information Technology of ANAS the final stage of the "National Olympiad in Informatics among university students" was held. The organizers of the regular event since 2007 have been the Ministry of Transport, Communication and High Technologies, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the Ministry of Education  and the Institute of Information Technology of ANAS.

The main goal of the Olympiad dedicated to  May 17 - World Telecommunication and Information Society Day is to increase the knowledge and interest of university students in the field of informatics and programming, as well as involve the selected students in international competitions.

Academician-secretary of ANAS, Director of the Institute of Information Technology of ANAS, academician Rasim Alguliev welcomed the participants of the Olympiad. This year event has been coincided with the  95^th anniversary of the national leader Haydar Aliyev and the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, he noted.

Speaking about the development of science and education in Azerbaijan,  the scientist said that the application of ICT in these spheres is a great opportunity. He emphasized the importance of developing of informatics and programming in the world and said that there is a need for highly skilled, highly-qualified and innovative thinking personnel in this area.

R. Alguliev said that organizing such competitions is an important event in the integration of science and education, adding that over the past 10 years, 40-50 teams (from 160 to 200 participants) have joined the first stage of the Olympiad on average every year from 10 to 15 higher education institutions. This year, 62 teams from 25 universities across the country have won the right to participate in the competition. The 14 best teams in 14 major universities in the capital and regions have won the second (final) stage of the Olympiad.

He emphasized that the resources of AzScienceNet science-computer network of the institute were used in realization of today's knowledge competition and establishing close cooperation with the influential international organizations of the world, this network has created conditions for the employees of academia's institutes and organizations to benefit from the opportunities offered by the world's science and education networks.

Then Deputy Minister of Transport, Communication and High Technologies Elmir Velizade said that the future of Azerbaijan should be closely involved in the formation of an information society formed by the dynamic development and development of the ICT, and to master the most up-to-date technologies.

He stressed the need for training highly qualified personnel in this field to support the development of high priority areas in our country. Valizadeh said that the knowledge competition of the higher education students in computer science, programming and the interest in this field is a commendable event. Valizadeh noted that the competition will create conditions for the students to achieve greater success and expressed their readiness to represent our country in international competitions and wished success to the Olympics participants.

Deputy Head of the Office of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Head of Science, Higher and Secondary Special Education Department Yagub Piriyev greeted participants of the event on behalf of the Ministry of Education. Y.Piriyev said that the youth policy, which was founded by national leader Heydar Aliyev, is successfully continued in our country today. He stressed that important measures were taken for this purpose, support of youth education abroad and the Presidential Award for Youth was established to stimulate their activity.

He noted that 10% of the students studying abroad have been educated in the IT field, and noted that the country's leadership has attached special importance to the development of this specialty in Azerbaijan and the admission to IT bachelor's degree has been increased 1.5 times this year. Taking into account the importance of information security, increasement of admission places from 140 to 20 is commendable. The International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) will be held in Azerbaijan in 2019 and highly-educated pupils will represent our country in this competition, he noted.

Representative of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, PhD in Law Zafiq Khalilov noted that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation has always supported the projects implemented in the field of science and education, as well as information technology projects that meet modern challenges. He said young people are interested in IT and such Olympiads are of great importance for young people to improve their self-esteem.

The chairman of the jury of the Olympiad, associate professor of Baku State University Ramin Mahmudzadeh noted that the Olympiad is of great importance in terms of revealing and supporting talented students in the field of informatics and programming, as well as creating the conditions for the high representation of our country in intellectual competitions. He also noted that the involvement of professional cadres with international experience in our country is crucial to the development of this field.

Then, the teacher of Baku Engineering University Etibar Seyidzade gave detailed information on technical issues and procedures. He said that the Olympiad is held in accordance with international “International Olympic Games programming among teams of high school students”. Each team consists of 1 teacher and 3 students (bachelor). A maximum of four teams per higher education institution will be admitted to the first stage of the Olympiad. Only one team of educational organizations qualifies for the final stage of the Olympiad. During the competition, each team is given a task to solve 12 algorithmic issues within 5 hours. Four teams with the best result in the finals are announced the winner.

Later, members of the Organizing Committee got acquainted with teams participating in the final stage of the competition.To ensure transparency, the competition was monitored by the teachers through the video surveillance system installed at the institute.

Finally, the results of the final stage were announced. According to the results of the final stage, 1st place was taken by “BEU Programmers” of Baku Engineering University, 2nd place was taken by ADA University "ADA U1", 3rd place was taken by Baku State University "BSU1" and 4th place was taken by the The Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan "Sharper" teams were awarded.

Winners (I-IV places) will be awarded with Honorary Awards and Diplomas by the Nar Mobile operator and BestComp Group, as well as by the Ministry of Transport, Communication and High Technologies at the event dedicated to the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.

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