Dhaka University has achieved an outstanding result in the ICPC Asia Dhaka Regional 2022 hosted by Green University on March 11, 2023 which is the most prestigious programming competition in the world. The University secured the first and second positions in the competition. Both teams are comprised of students from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering Department. The champion team, DU_Kronos, will represent the University in the ICPC World Final-2022 to be held in Egypt in November 2023. Additionally, another guest team from Dhaka University came third in the unofficial standings. A total of 162 teams from 128 different universities from all over the country participated in the main contest.
It's worth mentioning that Dhaka University has been the reigning champion for the past three years, surpassing other prominent universities such as BUET and SUST.
The DU_Bayanno team, comprised of Abdullah Ibne Hanif Arean (CSE 26th Batch), Ashraful Islam Shanto Sikder (IIT 11th Batch) and Nazmus Sakib (IIT 11th Batch), demonstrated remarkable prowess becoming Champion in the Natural Language Processing segment at the "ভাষা উৎসব ও জাতীয় ভাষা সেমিনার ২০২৪," meticulously organized by the esteemed Linguistics Department of the University of Dhaka.
The DU_Bayanno team took on the challenge of digitizing Bengali literature and journalism. They noticed that although Bengali literature has a long history, it's not easily accessible online. So, they came up with a plan to digitize Bengali texts thoroughly. Their meticulously crafted pipeline for data digitization, encompassing various stages such as segmentation, preprocessing, post processing, OCR/HCR, and the structured organization of data for researchers, presented a pioneering pathway toward advancing research in Bengali natural language processing. Their participation in the event not only showcased their groundbreaking idea but also fostered a collaborative environment, with numerous institutions contributing diverse perspectives and insights.
The culmination of the event was marked by a grand ceremony, where the DU_Bayanno team was honoured with an award presented by the distinguished Vice Chancellor of University of Dhaka, Prof. Dr. A. S. M. Maksud Kamal sir. This accolade not only celebrates their triumph but also underscores the importance of their endeavor in preserving and promoting the linguistic and cultural heritage of Bangladesh.
The United International University Inter University NLP Competition "ভাষামূল: মূখের ভাষার খোঁজে" held from February 8th to February 20th, 2024, on Kaggle, March 1st and 2nd, 2024 onsite witnessed enthusiastic participation from various institutions across Bangladesh. Team_Khita_Kortesi, led by Abdullah Ibne Hanif Arean, in securing the "1st Runners-up" position in the competition.
Team_Khita_Kortesi was led by Abdullah Ibne Hanif Arean from the CSE 26th Batch, with members including Nazmus Sakib and Ashraful Islam Shanto Sikder from the IIT 11th Batch. The name is a tribute to team member Ashraful Islam Shanto Sikder’s mother language Sylheti.
The competition unfolded over a span of 20 days, during which participants engaged in developing solutions for IPA transcription of Bengali text with regional dialects. Phase 1 of the Competition saw active participation, with 98 teams and 450 entries submitted on Kaggle Subsequently, Phase 2, conducted on March 1st and 2nd, involved the top 20 teams advancing to On-site presentations at UIU. The judging criteria encompassed solution quality, presentation effectiveness, and inference time.
Team_Khita_Kortesi employed innovative methodologies to tackle the challenges of the competition. They introduced a T5 (Text to Text Generation Transformer by Google) model with special preprocessing and post-processing methods. Additionally, due to technical constraints in cloud-based alternatives, the team utilized a specialized hardware provided by Dr. Md. Mosaddek Khan, featuring an NVIDIA RTX 3090 GPU with 24GB of memory.
Team_Khita_Kortesi's diligent efforts and innovative approaches led them to secure the "1st Runners-up" position in the competition. Their success underscores their commendable prowess and dedication to excellence in natural language processing.
The National Collegiate Programming Contest (NCPC) 2023, recently concluded, with Jahangirnagar University's Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) serving as the host. This annual competition is a prestigious platform for universities across Bangladesh to showcase their students' programming prowess. The legacy of Dhaka University competing in different Programming Contests all over the country is enriched and this event also was not an exception to that continuity.
This annual event has plenty of scopes for the student to showcase their mastery of Programming Skills. The primary purpose of NCPC is to cultivate and develop programming skills among university students in Bangladesh. By providing a competitive platform, students are encouraged to hone their abilities in areas like Problem-solving, Teamwork, and Coding Proficiency. The competition presents algorithmic and mathematical challenges that require students to analyze problems, devise solutions using appropriate algorithms and data structures, and implement them efficiently.
Moreover, this annual event fosters a sense of community among aspiring programmers across Bangladesh. Students from different universities get to interact, share knowledge, and learn from each other's approaches to problem-solving. The success and recognition associated with NCPC can motivate students to pursue careers in computer science and software development. Seeing their peers excel in the competition can inspire them to further develop their skills and contribute to the growing tech sector in Bangladesh.
This year, the onsite main round of the competition was held among 196 teams participating from more than 65 universities all over the country. Note that these 196 teams were selected from a 4-hour online preliminary round where around 1100 teams participated. The five-hour-long final contest started at 10:15 AM on Mar 9, 2024. A set of 11 problems was given to the teams to solve.
A total of 8 teams from the University of Dhaka participated in that competition. The team named “Ascending” consisting of Jubayer Rahman Nirjhor, Ayon Shahrier, and Nayeemul Islam Swad became the Champion of NCPC-2023 with a clear margin from the Runnerup team. Moreover, this team is also the Champion of ICPC Dhaka Regional 2024 and going to represent the country as a flagbearer in the 48th Annual World Championship of the International Collegiate Programming Contest whereas two members from this team (Jubayer Rahman Nirjhor, and Ayon Shahrier) are going to participate in the 46th Annual World Championship of the International Collegiate Programming Contest in LUXOR, Egypt.
Another team from the university held the 7th position in the competition. This team “DU_Void” was formed with Ibrahim Khandakar, Yeamin Kaiser, and Munawar Shakil Muhit. The third team from this university, “DU_Scolps”, stood in 18th place in the final rank list. This team consists of Sakib Hassan, Bholanath Das Niloy, and Asif Jawad. Note that Sakib Hassan, Yeamin Kaiser, and Bholanath Das Niloy are going to represent the university in the 47th Annual World Championship of the International Collegiate Programming Contest in LUXOR, Egypt.
Apart from these 3 wonderful performances, du____long_shot____, DU_3Musketeers, and DU_Untitled.V5 participated and placed in the top 30 in the NCPC-2023. The rest of the participating teams from the University of Dhaka have also placed in the top 100 teams.