Two high school students have received a scholarship to study at Qatar University’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) along with a cash prize of QR10,000 each as winners of its annual computing contest.
Marwan Naji al-Jritley and Omar Ayman Behairi are from Tarek bin Zeyad Independent Secondary School for Boys.
Students Almoutaz Billah and Ibrahmeem Ali from the same school were placed second and received QR6,000.
The third place was shared among students from four teams, with each team receiving QR4,000: Hussam al-Qadi and Omar Anwar (Omar bin Abdalazeez Independent Secondary School for Boys); Abdullah al-Jamal and Ali Makki (Tarek bin Zeyad Independent Secondary School for Boys); and two teams from Amna bint Wahab Independent Secondary School for Girls comprising Hiba Mohamed and Anan Mohamed; and Karam Fawzi and Menat Allah Saber.
This year’s contest, sponsored by Qapco and Dolphin Energy Limited, followed previous years’ format of teams building and programming a robot to select a ball of specific colour and dropping it at a certain location in the shortest time. It is designed to offer high school students across Qatar the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity and innovation as well as develop teamwork and communication skills.  
QU’s College of Engineering dean Dr Rashid Alammari noted that the students benefited greatly from the knowledge they gained on robot programming throughout the competition process.  
Abdulla Ahmad Naji, speaking on behalf of Qapco vice chair and CEO Dr Mohamed al-Mulla, said the competition will increase students’ awareness and understanding of technology and engineering.
“This initiative is closely linked to Qapco’s strategic plan to build a sustainable oil and gas industry here in Qatar and is also in line with the country’s National Vision 2030.”
Department head Prof Sebti FouFou commented that the contest provides a platform for the department and schools to focus on the growing market demand for computing professionals such as software engineers, system administrators, system developers, network designers, security consultants, and teachers.
“We were very impressed by the quality of the submissions and the talent and abilities of the students,” he added.