President Milanović Receives Delegation of Croatian Informatics Association and Congratulates Young Medal Winners at International Competitions
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović received today in the Office of the President of the Republic a delegation of the Croatian Informatics Association and young medal winners from recent international informatics competitions. At the meeting they talked of the results achieved, the challenges met by young computer scientists and plans for the future development of education in Croatia.
President Milanović congratulated the computer scientists on the outstanding success they achieved on the international scene, and pointed out that their success is of invaluable importance, not only for them personally, but also for the whole of Croatia.
At the 36th International Olympiad in Informatics held in September in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, young Croatian computer scientists won four bronze medals. Among the team members who won medals at the Olympiad were students of the Fifteenth Gymnasium in Zagreb Dino Hadžić, Nikola Vujica, Jakov Celin and Lovro Tunjić.
At the World Finals of the ICPC in Programming held in September in Astana, Kazakhstan, the University of Zagreb team won the title of European champion as well as a prize for the fastest solved task. The winning team was made up of students from the Faculty of Science of the University of Zagreb: Dorijan Lendvaj, Krešimir Nežmah and Patrick Pavić, under the expert guidance of Ivan Paljak.
Maša Dobrić won the silver medal at the European Girl’s Olympiad in Informatics, and Ivo Pavičić won the silver medal at the European Junior Olympiad in Informatics.
During the meeting, the secretary of the Croatian Informatics Association Krešimir Malnar pointed out the importance of continued investment in the education of young computer scientists and the development of technological skills that are essential for the future. In that sense, he underlined that, despite the remarkable successes on the international scene, further investment in equipment and support for young talents in order to continue the successful tradition are necessary. Moreover, the importance of ensuring adequate resources to prepare pupils for competitions as well as the development of new projects in the area of computer science was underlined.
President Milanović highlighted the importance of motivating young talented computer scientists and expressed hope that the young computer scientists will remain in Croatia after completing their studies and contribute to the further development of the country with their knowledge.
In addition to the medal winners and the Association secretary, the delegation included the professional and responsible managers of the Croatian teams at the various Olympiads, Nikola Dmitrović, Fran Babić, Iva Tadić and Josip Klepec.
The Croatian Informatics Association, founded in 1985, is a national professional association of technical culture associations that operates as a non-partisan civil society association. One of the central tasks of the Association is systematic work with young computer scientists through the provision of professional support, organization of state championships, camps and schools for young computer scientists, and preparation for international competitions. The successes that the Association continuously achieves at world and European levels are the fruit of many years of dedicated work, as evidenced by the numerous medals won.
Alongside President Milanović was the Adviser to the President for Education Jadranka Žarković.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek