The Fall 2015 EU Season was phenomenal! We saw over 2000 students from 300 universities all over Europe forego their weekends to learn, build, and share at hackathons. We also saw the first MLH Member Events in Poland, Finland, Germany, Georgia, and the Netherlands! We had our first event organized by high school students, and 14 schools and universities across the continent threw an MLH Local Hack Day for the first time. Overall, it was a pretty eventful season.
Fall 2015 saw a lot of firsts. But it was also a second for one university in particular. We’re excited to announce that the University of Manchester has won the MLH EU Hackathon Season for the second time.
University of Manchester
The first time Manchester won was a year ago in Fall 2014. But, they were relegated to third place by an unstoppable King’s College London and a narrow victory from the University of Edinburgh in Spring 2015. Now Manchester is back on top and for good reason. You’d be hard pressed to find a hackathon that doesn’t have somebody from Manchester in attendance.
“It is exciting to know that the hacker spirit is still going strong in Manchester. . . I believe it is all due to the people around us and their endless support,” said Sami Alabed, Director of StudentHack and a student at Manchester. “We want to get as many passionate people involved in this wonderful experience, and we hope this victory inspires those who haven’t been to a hackathon to attend one and embrace this widespread movement.”
We’re certainly excited to see how the student hacker scene at Manchester will continue to grow. This season they made the exciting announcement that they’ll be running StudentHack with Manchester Metropolitan University, so they’re showing no signs of slowing down. We can’t wait for StudentHack this weekend!
| Rank | School | Total Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The University of Manchester | 343 |
| 2 | The University of Birmingham | 325 |
| 3 | University College London | 201 |
| 4 | King’s College London | 185 |
| 5 | Birmingham City University | 167 |
| 6 | University of Nottingham | 161 |
| 7 | Aston University | 137 |
| 8 | University of Edinburgh | 95 |
| 9 | Poznań University of Technology | 74 |
| 10 | Jacobs University Bremen | 70 |
You can see the full results on the EU Fall 2015 Season Standings Page.
Top 10: Europe is on the Rise
Congratulations to the University of Birmingham and University College London (UCL) who shot into the top three this season!
Birmingham’s ascent followed a wave of interest after their first BrumHack, when Birmingham students started traveling all around the UK to attend hackathons. “Just over a year ago, Birmingham students were leaving a small footprint in the UK tech scene, and it’s great to see that there’s now a well trodden path to hackathons, with students attending them every week,” said Jack Wearden, Director of BrumHack and a student at Birmingham.
All because of BrumHack, there’s “been a big culture change within the student body. The student society now coordinates trips to other universities for their hackathons, and the students, who’ve already been, heavily encourage their friends to attend with them.”
UCL’s rise was also “a great reflection of the welcoming, tight-knit, and ever-growing community of students interested in technology at UCL,” said Zahra Taiba, Director of HackLondon and a student at UCL. “We encouraged our members to attend hackathons and try new things. They’ve been absolutely fantastic, and we couldn’t be more proud of all that they’re achieving.”
We’re also excited to see that the 9th and 10th place were claimed by universities outside of the UK this season. The UK has done a phenomenal job of growing their hackathon scene, but it’s great to see more countries throughout Europe moving up the ranks to start challenging UK hackers. Naomi Pentrel, MLH Community Council Member, and organiser of jacobsHack! and OxfordHack, noted that “the growth of student hackathons outside the UK has been immense. Two years ago there were almost none, now you see them popping up everywhere!”
Top High School: Public School 199 (Komarovi), Tbilisi
It’s fantastic seeing High School hackers on the rise all over the world! With more and more hackathons popping up around the continent, we hope to see more of you join the community.
Giorgi Tkeshelashvili, Director of HackTbilisi, had this to say about the Tbilisi school: “Komarovi students have been taking hackathons by storm since the very first hackathon in Georgia back in 2012, but their dominance became really obvious during the last HackTBILISI where multiple teams from Komarovi were among the hackathon winners.”
So, congratulations to Public School 199 in Tbilisi for breaking into the rankings by attending HackTbilisi! We can’t wait to see what other high schools will be a part of this Spring Season!
Visitor’s Cup: McMaster University
McMaster is well known for their hackathon DeltaHacks. Mac students decided to take a trip across the pond to participate in FuseHack in the Netherlands, securing the Visitor’s Cup from S15 winners, MIT.
Get Involved to Win Spring 2016!
The best way to raise your university in the rankings is to attend as many hackathons as you can and bring your friends along with you. They’re extremely rewarding experiences and a lot of fun! So sign up for one today!
To grow the hacker community at your university, consider throwing your own hackathon or Local Hack Day. Get in touch with us at league@mlh.io for help starting your hackathon.
We look forward to seeing what’s in store for Spring 2016!