【News】Female students win 4 medals in informatics event
‘WE CAN DO IT’: The ‘Code Girls’ initiative is aimed at encouraging female students to pursue competitive programming and computer science, NTNU said
(TAIPEI TIMES/ By Yang Mien-chieh and William Hetherington ) Taiwan marked a milestone in women’s technology education this year by sending its first delegation to the European Girls’ Olympiad in Informatics (EGOI), in which the team won four medals.
The four-member delegation traveled to Cesenatico, Italy, for the sixth edition of the competition, earning two silver and two bronze medals among 250 contestants from 67 countries.
The Taiwanese team was led by National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering professor Lee Chung-mou (李忠謀), associate professor Ko Chia-ling (柯佳伶) and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Institute of Biomedical Informatics professor Su Chia yu (蘇家玉).
The Taiwanese delegation to the European Girls’ Olympiad in Informatics pose for a photograph with the Republic of China flag in an undated photograph. (Photo courtesy of National Taiwan Normal University)
Founded in Switzerland in 2021, the EGOI is one of the world’s leading programming competitions for female junior-high school students.
The event took place from Wednesday to Saturday last week.
Taipei First Girls’ High School student Yang Yueh-chen (楊岳蓁) won a silver medal and ranked 47th overall, while Taoyuan Municipal Wuling High School student Wu Pei-chen (吳沛宸) also received silver, ranking 55th.
Private Yanping High School student Teng Han-yun (鄧涵云) earned a bronze medal and ranked 89th overall, while Hsinchu Girls’ Senior High School student Chen Yu-hsuan (陳瑀萱) also received bronze, placing 107th.
National Taiwan Normal University said Lee has long promoted computer science education and previously served as president of the International Olympiad in Informatics.
After observing that female participation in programming competitions has historically been low, Lee over the past few years headed the “Code Girls” initiative to encourage more female students to pursue competitive programming and computer science through structured courses and supportive learning environments, the university said.
It said the project was jointly organized by its Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, the Ministry of Education’s K-12 Education Administration and the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research.
In addition to pursuing honors at international competitions, the initiative aims to encourage more female students to enter STEM fields through the participants’ experiences and achievements while expanding the international outlook and competitiveness of Taiwanese women in information technology, it said.