Sri Lanka in top ten of most number of applicants & also University of Moratuwa(UOM) is the 1st among top 10 universities
Moratuwa, Sri Lanka –The University of Moratuwa is proud to announce that 24 student projects have been accepted for the Google Summer of Code program this year making it the number one University worldwide to have the most number of accepted projects.
Google, the Internet search engine giant (http://www.google.com) host an annual worldwide competition on Free and Open Software development projects commonly known as the Google Summer of Code (GSoc) program. This program, now in its fourth year, entices students to submit their idea to Google approved mentor organizations and contribute to open source projects. Once selected and on successful completion of their tasks, Google grants the student a reward of $4500. This year Google accepted 1125 applications by students worldwide to work on Free and Open Source Software projects during this summer.
“We are very happy about the achievements of our students this year. We have come a long way from the four awards received three years ago. I take this opportunity to thank the global Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Community for their efforts in helping these students. Clearly students benefit a lot from having a very active community” said Mrs. Vishaka Nanayakkara, Head of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa.
She also made a special note of appreciation of Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana, a pioneer and visionary leader who has made Sri Lanka a force to reckon with, in the global open source software community for his efforts in mentoring and guiding students of the department in FOSS development as a visiting lecturer and the founder of the Lanka Software Foundation which has one of its labs at the University of Moratuwa.
Professor Malik Ranasinghe, Vice Chancellor, University of Moratuwa highlighted on the University’s vision to produce world class graduates and emphasized that the achievements at competitions of this nature bears testimony to the comparability of University of Moratuwa undergraduates with those of the developed world. He further stated that the local universities are producing these graduates at a cost of less than US$5000/=; obviously without world class facilities. He congratulated the awardees from the University of Moratuwa and the members of the staff who have encouraged these students.
The Computer Science and Engineering Department of Faculty of Engineering received 18 projects from the total of 24 accepted projects from the University of Moratuwa with other 6 projects from other departments of the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Information Technology.
Sri Lanka was also in the top ten list of countries with the most number of accepted students, even beating the United Kingdom. The United States of America was number one followed by India, China, Canada, France, Germany, Brazil, and Poland.
The University of Moratuwa is known as a trendsetter for its innovative approach to undergraduate education aimed at producing not only employable, but globally competitive graduates. The efforts have resulted in maintaining excellent standards in academic activities while placing emphasis on the soft skills development of undergraduates as well.
DM
