Teaching High-Performance Computing in Developing Countries: A Case Study in Mexican Universities

Abstract

Teaching High-Performance Computing (HPC) to undergraduate programs represents a significant challenge in most universities in developing countries like Mexico. Deficien-cies in the required infrastructure and equipment, inadequate curricula in computer engineering programs (and resistance to change them), students' lack of interest, motivation, or knowledge of this area are the main difficulties to overcome. The COVID-19 pandemic represents an additional challenge to these difficulties in teaching HPC in these programs. Despite the detriments, some strategies have been developed to incorporate the HPC concepts to Mexican students without necessarily modifying the traditional curricula. This paper presents a case study over four public universities in Mexico based on our experience as instructors. We also propose a course that introduces the HPC principles considering the heterogeneous background of the students in such universities. The results are about the number of students enrolling in related classes and participating in extra-curricular projects.