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University of Moratuwa – Top University Worldwide for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Development
The University of Moratuwa (UoM), which is ranked as the best University in Sri Lanka, recorded another significant achievement in the international arena when it was placed as the top University worldwide in terms of the number of awards received by students at the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) competitions from inception in 2005 to 2009. UoM won the highest number of awards at each of the the annual competitions held in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The awards measure students’ talent, creativity, ability and performance in the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) development.
The GSoC is a global software development competition organized by the search engine giant, Google to promote research and development within open-source software projects. Students from Universities all over the world are invited to apply for the competition, where successful applicants are offered stipends by GSoC to write code for various open source software projects. GSoC has worked with several open source, free software, and technology-related groups to identify and fund several projects over a three month period during each year.
The UoM took part in the first GSoC competition which kicked-off in 2005 with the participation of four students from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering. With this outstanding performance, where students from UOM have won 79 awards between 2005 and 2009, it is evident that the UoM is a fountain of opportunity, knowledge and professionalism in this most demanding creative area in ICT.
Over the years UoM has produced world class graduates who could compete, challenge and beat the best in the world. It is praiseworthy that the contribution of the Faculty of Engineering to the open source community has been remarkable and that many students have turned out to be key personalities in the Free and Open Source Software arena such as becoming Apache Committers. The promotion of Open Source Software development has provided ample opportunities for the students to gain valuable experience for innovation, creativity and global exposure.
The success at the GSoC competitions between 2005 and 2009 has affirmed the fact that the UoM is the trendsetter for its innovative approach to undergraduate education which is aimed at producing not merely employable, but globally competitive graduates. Its efforts in maintaining excellent standards in academic activities while placing much emphasis on the leadership, entrepreneurial and soft skills development, has resulted in UoM producing “world class graduates” who are academically sound, self confident, flexible, internationally recognized, and able to “hit the ground running” from day one. The commitment and the “can do” spirit of the dynamic staff and the students of the UoM assure that this is the beginning of many more world’s firsts to be expected from the best University in Sri Lanka.
Though the total number of awards won by Sri Lanka seems farfetched due to the small population of University students in this country, Sri Lanka still managed to be in the top ten between 2005 and 2009 with respect to the number of awards won by the students. (Refer the chart)
See the Ranking of the top 108 Universities in the World who have at least eight (08) accepted student awards at the GSoC from its inception in 2005 to 2009.
Rank |
Country |
University |
Total |
2009 |
2008 |
2007 |
2006 |
2005 |
1 |
Sri Lanka |
University of Moratuwa |
79 |
22 |
24 |
22 |
9 |
4 |
2 |
Brazil |
University of Campinas – UNICAMP |
37 |
12 |
10 |
5 |
7 |
3 |
3 |
Canada |
University of Toronto |
34 |
7 |
6 |
5 |
9 |
7 |
4 |
Austria |
Vienna University of Technology |
31 |
9 |
6 |
9 |
6 |
1 |
5 |
China |
Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences |
30 |
11 |
10 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
US |
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
28 |
7 |
5 |
4 |
10 |
3 |
7 |
Poland |
Wroclaw University of Technology |
27 |
4 |
9 |
6 |
3 |
5 |
8 |
Canada |
Carleton University |
21 |
3 |
7 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
9 |
Hungary |
Budapest University of Technology and Economics |
21 |
5 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
10 |
Romania |
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi |
20 |
4 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
11 |
Sweden |
Chalmers University Of Technology |
19 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
0 |
12 |
Romania |
Polytechnic University Of Bucharest |
18 |
11 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
13 |
Sweden |
Royal Institute of Technology |
18 |
9 |
5 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
US |
Georgia Institute of Technology |
18 |
1 |
6 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
15 |
US |
Portland State University |
18 |
1 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
6 |
16 |
US |
University of California, Berkeley |
18 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
17 |
India |
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur |
17 |
6 |
7 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
18 |
Poland |
Gdansk University of Technology |
17 |
10 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
19 |
US |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
17 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
20 |
Romania |
Polytechnic University in Timisoara |
16 |
0 |
12 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
21 |
Sri Lanka |
University of Colombo |
16 |
5 |
6 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
22 |
UK |
University of Edinburgh |
16 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
23 |
US |
Carnegie Mellon University |
16 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
5 |
3 |
24 |
US |
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
16 |
6 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
25 |
Canada |
University of Waterloo |
15 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
26 |
Poland |
University of Warsaw |
15 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
27 |
Portugal |
Universidade do Porto (FEUP) |
15 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
28 |
US |
University of California, Los Angeles |
15 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
29 |
Brazil |
University of Sao Paulo |
14 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
30 |
UK |
Imperial College London |
14 |
2 |
8 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
31 |
UK |
University of Cambridge |
14 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
32 |
UK |
University of York |
14 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
33 |
Czech |
Charles University at Prague |
13 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
34 |
Germany |
RWTH Aachen University |
13 |
0 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
35 |
India |
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur |
13 |
5 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
36 |
Russia |
Moscow State University |
13 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
37 |
UK |
University of Oxford |
13 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
38 |
US |
Texas A&M University |
13 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
39 |
US |
University of Southern California |
13 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
40 |
Belgium |
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven |
12 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
41 |
China |
Tsinghua University |
12 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
42 |
Finland |
Helsinki University of Technology |
12 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
43 |
Germany |
University of Karlsruhe (TH) |
12 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
44 |
India |
Birla Institute of Technology and Science |
12 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
45 |
India |
Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University |
12 |
8 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
46 |
Serbia |
University of Nis |
12 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
47 |
Spain |
Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) |
12 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
48 |
US |
Cornell University |
12 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
49 |
US |
Rochester Institute of Technology |
12 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
50 |
US |
University of Maryland, College Park |
12 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
51 |
US |
University of Michigan |
12 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
52 |
Argentina |
Universidad de Buenos Aires |
11 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
53 |
China |
Chinese Academy of Sciences |
11 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
54 |
India |
International Institute of Information Technology |
11 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
55 |
Mexico |
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico |
11 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
56 |
Poland |
Poznan Univeristy Of Technology |
11 |
2 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
57 |
Poland |
Warsaw University |
11 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
58 |
Romania |
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca |
11 |
5 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
59 |
US |
Indiana University at Bloomington |
11 |
2 |
9 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
60 |
US |
Ohio State University |
11 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
61 |
US |
University of California, San Diego |
11 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
62 |
US |
University of Chicago |
11 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
63 |
US |
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |
11 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
64 |
US |
University of Washington |
11 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
65 |
Brazil |
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco |
10 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
66 |
Canada |
Simon Fraser University |
10 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
67 |
Croatia |
University of Zagreb |
10 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
68 |
Ireland |
Trinity College Dublin |
10 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
69 |
Italy |
University of Pisa |
10 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
70 |
Holland |
University of Twente |
10 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
71 |
Singapore |
National University of Singapore |
10 |
8 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
72 |
US |
North Carolina State University |
10 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
73 |
US |
Purdue University |
10 |
0 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
74 |
US |
University of California, Santa Cruz |
10 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
75 |
US |
University of Central Florida |
10 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
76 |
US |
University of Texas at Austin |
10 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
77 |
Belarus |
Belarusian State University |
9 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
78 |
Brazil |
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul |
9 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
79 |
Canada |
University of British Columbia |
9 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
80 |
China |
Shanghai Jiao Tong University |
9 |
5 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
81 |
Denmark |
Aalborg University |
9 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
82 |
France |
Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard |
9 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
83 |
Germany |
Freie Universitaet Berlin |
9 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
84 |
India |
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay |
9 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
85 |
Italy |
Politecnico di Torino |
9 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
86 |
Poland |
AGH University of Science and Technology |
9 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
87 |
Poland |
University of Wroclaw |
9 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
88 |
Sweden |
Linköping University |
9 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
89 |
US |
Michigan State University |
9 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
90 |
US |
Pennsylvania State University |
9 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
91 |
US |
Stanford University |
9 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
92 |
US |
University of Minnesota |
9 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
93 |
US |
University of Utah |
9 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
94 |
US |
University of Wisconsin at Madison |
9 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
95 |
Austria |
Graz University of Technology |
8 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
96 |
Brazil |
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais |
8 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
97 |
Canada |
McGill University |
8 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
98 |
China |
Peking University |
8 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
99 |
Germany |
University of Tuebingen |
8 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
100 |
India |
Government Engineering College, Thrissur |
8 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
101 |
Norway |
Norwegian University of Science and Technology |
8 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
102 |
Serbia |
University of Belgrade |
8 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
103 |
Spain |
Open University of Catalonia, UOC |
8 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
104 |
US |
George Washington University |
8 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
105 |
US |
State University of New York, Stony Brook |
8 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
106 |
US |
University of California, Santa Barbara |
8 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
107 |
US |
University of Maryland |
8 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
108 |
US |
University of Texas at Dallas |
8 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
Source: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2009/09/tasty-new-google-summer-of-code-stats.html
From its inception in 2005 to 2009, the GSoC program has selected nearly 4070 student award winners from 1384 Universities from nearly 85 countries worldwide. Countries such as USA, India, Germany, Canada, Poland, Brazil, United Kingdom, China, France and Sri Lanka which are at the pinnacle of programming expertise have been key players in the GSoC.
Through GSoC, accepted student applicants are paired with a mentor(s) from the participating projects, thus gaining exposure to real-world software development scenarios and opportunities for employment in areas related to their academic pursuits. In turn, participating projects are able to more easily identify and bring in new developers. Best of all, more source code is created and released for the use and benefit of all.
The most noteworthy feature is that although the USA, India and Germany secured the first three positions in the total number of proposals accepted by GSoC between 2005 and 2009, none of the Universities in those countries could record 79 awards as the number of proposals accepted from one single University, which the UoM achieved, surpassing every other University worldwide by a large margin. The University of Campinas, Brazil with 37 awards was the closest while University of Toronto, Canada with 34 awards was third amongst Universities in terms of the total number of accepted awards between 2005 and 2009. This demonstrates high level of talent, skill, creativity, innovation and motivation of the students at the UoM when compared with the rest of the world.
Prof Malik Ranasinghe
Vice Chancellor
University of Moratuwa
Sri Lanka
Link - University of Colombo School of Computing |
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