Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chusak Limsakul, President of Prince of Songkla University (PSU), was interviewed on the show "Tom MaLang Wan", on July 17, 2015 about PSU's plan to host the worldwide computer programming competition "ACM-ICPC World Finals 2016" in Phuket on May 15-20, 2016. President Chusak pointed out the essential role of the Thai software industry in laying down the foundations and guidelines for the future technological development of the country, providing the framework required for the next generation of Thai youth to become proficient in the global technology marketplace. In the nearly four decades since its foundation, ACM-ICPC has been instrumental in achieving these goals.

The ACM-ICPC World Finals is supported by International Business Machines (IBM). Each year, the event is hosted by a different institution and country. PSU has applied to be host of this world-class competition since 2011, and finally was approved to host it in 2016, which will be the auspicious 40th anniversary of the event. The Department of Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, with an experience of hosting past Asian IT competitions since 2009, will be tasked to organize the World Finals.

The competition will start at the regional level (North, South, Northeast, Central etc.), and the winners will proceed to the national rounds. The top 20 winning national teams will compete at the continental level, and qualified teams may compete at the world finals. Even if no Thai team could qualify for the finals, by the rights of the host country, the two Thai teams that did best at the National and Asian level can be nominated for the world finals.
The event consists of 11-13 IT problems testing the programming ability, cognition, math and computer skills of the contestants. Successful teams need to train a number of skills and need to be versatile and flexible, in order to respond to a variety of problems efficiently - particularly to problems derived from daily-life issues, such as traffic design, according to President Chusak.

Candidates wishing to compete for their university teams must have three people to sign on behalf of their university and be enrolled in any regional class at Prince of Songkla University, Chiang Mai University, Khon Kaen University, Chulalongkorn University or Kasetsart University, Chonburi.

You can follow the event on Facebook: ACM-ICPC Thailand.