The Olympiad is organized by The Association of Global Universities, in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation and the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudichestvo).
The competition is aimed at talented foreign students who would like to enroll in master’s and postgraduate programs in Russia for free. The winners of the Open Doors are granted a free early admission at any Russian university, without entrance examinations and with tuition fees covered by the Russian Federation.
The competition winners will be able to enroll in a program using a single-window system, choosing any of 500 Russian universities, including 21 leading universities-participants of the 5-100 Project. The language of instruction is English or Russian depending on the chosen program and the university.
The Olympiad has two tracks – for prospective Master’s and doctoral students (analogous to Ph.D.). The Olympiad is held in two rounds for the Master’s track and in three rounds for the doctoral track (analogous to Ph.D.). The first round is a competition of portfolios, and the second round is a problem-solving challenge. The third round of the Olympiad involves the selection of a prospective research supervisor for the chosen doctoral program (analogous to Ph.D.) and an interview with him/her.
The competition is open to foreign citizens and stateless persons, including compatriots living abroad, having a Bachelor’s degree or completing a Bachelor degree program in the year of the Olympiad for the Master’s track and having a Master’s or Specialist’s degree for the doctoral track (analogous to Ph.D.) in the year of the Olympiad.
Olympiad tracks
The Olympiad has two tracks – for prospective Master’s and postgraduate (doctoral) students. Depending on the chosen direction, the winners of the Olympiad will be able to study for free the master’s or postgraduate programs of the chosen University. There are two rounds for the Master’s track and three rounds for the doctoral track. The first round is a competition of portfolios, and the second round is a problem-solving challenge. The third round of the doctoral track involves the selection of a prospective research supervisor for the chosen doctoral program and an interview with him/her. The first two rounds of the Olympiad are held simultaneously for both tracks of the Olympiad. There is a master’s track for all study areas of the Olympiad. There are doctoral tracks only for the following study areas:
- Biology & Biotechnology
- Chemistry & Materials Science
- Clinical Medicine & Public Health
- Linguistics & Modern Languages
- Mathematics & Artificial intelligence
- Physical Sciences
Timeline
| September 15th, 2020 | REGISTRATION |
| September 15th – December 10th, 2020 | Portfolio filling |
| December 10th, 2020 | Deadline for portfolio submission |
| December 10th – 24th, 2020 | The first round. Grading of the portfolios |
| December 25th, 2020 | Announcement of the first-round results |
| January 11th – 30th, 2021 | The second round |
| January 11th – February 9th, 2021 | Grading of the second round of the competition |
| February 10th, 2021 | Announcement of the second-round results |
| February 11th – 18th, 2021 | Appeal process |
| February 22th, 2021 | Announcement of the Open Doors winners and prize-winners in the Master’s track |
| March 1st – 19th, 2021 | The third round (for participants of the doctoral track (analogous to PhD)) |
| March 23rd, 2021 | Announcement of the Open Doors winners and prize-winners in the doctoral track (analogous to PhD) |
For more information, please visit Official Website.
