National Project “Science and Universities” Launches Annual International Olympiad for Prospective Master’s and Doctoral Students

Registration for the International Olympiad of the Global Universities Association for Master’s and doctoral students begins on 15 September. The Olympiad is organized within the framework of the National Project “Science and Universities”. Participants of the Olympiad will test their knowledge in 14 fields of science without leaving their home country. Winners and runners-up will be awarded scholarships to study at the leading universities of Russia.

The competition is open to foreign citizens and Russian nationals permanently living abroad, having a Bachelor's or Master's degree or completing these degree programs in 2022. The Olympiad is held in 14 fields of study: Business and Management, Biology and Biotechnology, Engineering and Technology, Clinical Medicine and Public Health, Computer and Data Science, Linguistics and Modern Languages, Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, Earth Sciences, Neurosciences and Psychology, Education, Political Science, Physical Sciences, Chemistry and Materials Sciences, Economics and Econometrics. Each field of study has two tracks: a Master's track and a doctoral track. Participants can choose several fields of study and take part in one or both tracks.

The Olympiad is organized in two rounds for prospective Master's students and three rounds for doctoral students. The first round is a competition of portfolios, and the second round is a problem-solving challenge. All stages of the Olympiad are held online in Russian or English.

During the first round, participants submit a portfolio and write a motivation letter explaining their choice of the field of study and the reasons for studying in Russia. The portfolio is evaluated by the Olympiad jury.

The second round of the Olympiad is organized in a proctored form. Special software monitors the computer's desktop and webcam. The data recorded by the proctoring software are sent for review. The recording is done for checking the independence of the performance of the Olympiad tasks.

The third round of the doctoral track is an online interview with three potential research supervisors. Before the interview, participants can familiarize themselves with the scope of research interests of each supervisor.

The Olympiad has been held since 2017. During the four years, more than 165,000 young people from 197 countries participated in the Olympiad, of which 2,000 received scholarships to study at Russia's leading universities. More than 81,000 participants from 197 countries registered for the Olympiad in 2020-21, and 958 participants from 83 countries became winners and runners-up.

Last year, for the first time, the doctoral track of the Olympiad was held in six fields: Biology and Biotechnology, Clinical Medicine and Public Health, Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics and Modern Languages, Chemistry and Material Sciences, and Physical Sciences. 81 participants were invited to take part in the third round.  42 became winners of the Olympiad and got the opportunity to enroll on a doctoral program run by Russian universities.

The Olympiad is supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and Rossotrudnichestvo. The organizer of the Olympiad is the Global Universities Association.

To participate in the Olympiad, please register on the website of the project at https://od.globaluni.ru/en.

Registration is open from 15 September to 10 December 2021.