SANTO DOMINGO.- A team of students from the Computer Science Engineering program at the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) won the Grand Prize in the Computing track of the Huawei ICT Global Competition 2025-2026, the highest recognition awarded by Huawei in that category.
The information was released by the rector of PUCMM, Reverend Father Dr. Secilio Espinal, highlighting the significance of this achievement in one of the most important student competitions in information and communication technologies (ICT).
“This is the first time a country from Latin America and the Caribbean has won the competition in this category. It is a source of pride for higher education in the country, a source of pride for PUCMM, and a source of pride for the entire Dominican Republic,” he said.
The team consisted of students Marco Reyes, Yira Tavarez, and Diego de Jesús Peralta Mora, mentored by Professor Jesús Nicolás Mejías. The students participated in the Computing track, one of the competition's main categories, which focuses on advanced areas of computing, operating systems, programming, storage, networking, virtualization, and solving technological problems in real-world scenarios.
“Sharing with students from so many countries was an experience that broadened our perspective on how technology is developing in other parts of the world,” the winners explained.
“In the competition, the students were evaluated with practical and theoretical challenges that required applying technical knowledge, analysis, teamwork and the ability to solve problems using Huawei technologies,” explained Jesús Nicolás Mejías, who also became the first Latin American mentor to win a Grand Prize in Computing at the Huawei ICT Competition.
With this result, the university professor added, PUCMM has, for the second year in a row, positioned itself among the best teams in this international competition organized by Huawei. In the 2024-2025 edition, the team made up of Kamila Acevedo, Marco Reyes, and Yira Tavarez achieved third place worldwide in the Cloud track.
The experience gained in the 2025 edition allowed the team to strengthen their preparation for this year and understand the level of competition. “The PUCMM team also became the only team from Central America and the Caribbean to qualify for this year’s world final,” Mejías added.
The Huawei ICT Global Competition brought together universities and students from over 80 countries and regions for its final stage held in China. This year's competition included teams from Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
Recommended readings:
