Apr 10, 2005
U.S. falls behind
American universities — once the dominant force in the information technology world — fell far down the ranks in a widely watched international computer programming contest held this week.
The University of Illinois tied for 17th place in the world finals of the Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest. That’s the weakest result for the United States in the 29-year history of the competition.
This year, the contest was held in Shanghai, where a home team, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, won. Two Russian institutions, Moscow State University and St. Petersburg Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics, came in second and third. Canada saved North America’s honor, as Ontario’s University of Waterloo took the No. 4 spot.