USI students participate in the SWERC International Programming Competition in Pisa

The 2025 edition of SWERC (Southwestern Europe Regional Contest) took place in November at the University of Pisa, bringing together the best talents in university programming in southwestern Europe. Among the participants were two teams selected from the Faculty of Informatics at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) -- fine_cUSIne and overenthUSIastically -- composed of Lorenzo Spada, Mykhailo Taranik, Alessio Barletta, Janis Waser, Leon Wienges and Amedeo Zappulla.

Our teams achieved excellent results, placing 76th and 105th, respectively, out of 142 participating teams. Considering that the participating universities are among the oldest in south-western Europe, with a student body dozens of times larger than ours, the young Faculty of Informatics at USI is extremely proud of the results achieved each year. The participants tackled high-level problems, demonstrating great preparation and advanced skills.

SWERC is one of the leading international programming competitions for universities. This five-hour contest challenges participants with complex algorithmic problem-solving and advanced coding tasks. The competition is open to teams from France, Israel, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino, and Vatican City. It also serves as the regional selection phase for the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC). The top teams qualify for the world finals to compete against the most talented programmers from universities around the globe.

Preparing USI students for the SWERC is a highly competitive process. Top programmers are selected through a rigorous evaluation process.

The training programme is supervised by Prof. Laura Pozzi, Prof. Antonio Carzaniga and Prof. Kai Hormann. They not only conduct specialised courses to enhance students' algorithmic skills but also actively support them throughout their training and accompany them to competitions. USI continues to invest in and promote participation in international events, recognising the value these experiences bring to its students' academic and professional training.