Starting December, it is possible to register for Open Doors: Russian Scholarship Project, Russia’s first competition for international students applying to Master’s programmes. A two-stage remote competition will consist of portfolio-contest and online-assignment. The international students willing to participate have to sign up and upload their portfolios until January, 15th. 

The idea of such contest was proposed last year by Global Universities Association, that brings together Russian universities participating in Academic Excellence Programme 5-100, an initiative that is meant to raise international competitiveness of Russian HEIs. The Open Doors project was highly supported by Russian Ministry of Education and Science. 

This year the competition covers four areas of studies: Computer Science, Mathematics, Economics and Physics. Winners and runners-up of the competition will be able to choose one of the Master’s programmes, supported by the project. Competitors in Economics, for example, will be eligible to apply to programmes in three fields, Computer Science – in five, Mathematics – eight, and Physics – nine. Overall, 160 scholarships have been allocated and will be distributed among the four subject areas, depending on the number of participants in each of them. 

Competition winners will be able to enroll in a selected university before the official application period and study for free. Citizens of any country, including Russian citizens living abroad, as well as stateless individuals are eligible to participate. The only requirement is a Bachelor’s degree gained prior or during 2018. It is possible to undergo the competition both in Russian and English.