Fife College Computing Students are National Champions!

Three Fife College computing students have won a prestigious national computing competition sponsored by Kyocera.

The team of three, Keir Nellyer from Dunfermline; Liam Dales and Jack Vincent, both from Glenrothes were delighted to receive the top prize in the first ever KyoceraCodes competition final held in Reading recently.

Accompanied by their tutors and mentors, Fiona Lydiate and Ged Mullen, the three 18 year old students, who study HND Software Development, delivered their final presentation to the judges at Kyocera’s headquarters achieving a winning score of 129 out of a possible 150. The judges were so impressed with their performance that the team were asked to deliver their presentation one more time to a selection of key staff and directors from the company.

The competition, which has been running since the spring, began with twenty-two team entrants from colleges across the UK - this was shortlisted down to six teams who went on to receive training on Kyocoera’sHyPAS development kit in April. These six teams are the first in the UK to become certified HyPAS developers. Following on from the training the teams worked on creating their own idea for an application to run on Kyocera printers.

The Fife College squad presented a strong business case for their idea and allowed Kyocera to try out their application which they created using HyPAS development kit. Their app idea tweets a scanned document – the judges at Kyocera were very excited by this innovation and how it could be developed for the future.

Thanks to the team’s winning ideas, many more students at Fife College will benefit thanks to a winning prize of a 3D printer and development kit which has been awarded to the College.

Fiona Lydiate, Project Manager said: “We are delighted that these three students have won such a prestigious competition, especially as they did so while completing their end of year studies. They are all passionate about their course and have been extremely excited about taking part in this competition. The whole process has been a fantastic opportunity for them to showcase their skills which has also helped them expand their knowledge of software development in real-life development situations.

“We are very proud of the team’s achievements, which not only reflects their individual talents and hard work but also the great support they have received from their lecturers and fellow students. We would also like to thank Kyocera, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of computer printers and software solutions, for organising such a fantastic competition and for the warm welcome we all received in Reading at their Headquarters.

“Fife College is committed to widening opportunities for students and competitions such as this are a great way for our students to enhance their skills and experience.”

The future looks promising for the winning students - Jack and Liam are now off to university to continue their studies and Keir has started work with a local software development company.

A wide range of computing courses, which begin after the summer, are available to apply for now including HND Software Development, NPA Cyber Support, PDA in Computer Support an NC Computing and Digital Media.

For further details about these visit www.fife.ac.uk or call 0344 2480115