A Master's degree in Russia? Sign me up! Students from all over the globe can now study for free on a Master’s program at one of Russia and the world’s top universities thanks to Open Doors: Russian Scholarship Project that has just been launched in Russia.
Open Doors: Russian Scholarship Project is Russia’s first international competition for prospective Master's students. The competition is held with the support of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science and the Rossotrudnichestvo Federal Agency; the Association “Global Universities” acts as the organizer. The project is the first to give students from all over the world a unique opportunity to enroll in a Master’s program in Russia without entrance exams and using a single-window system: entrants can choose any one of more than 500 universities in 80 Russian cities, from Kaliningrad to Siberia and the Far East. That includes universities listed in top international rankings, such as Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE), QS World University Rankings and the Academic Ranking of World Universities, as well as 21 leading universities participating in Project 5-100 – a Russian academic excellence initiative aimed at strengthening the position of the Russian education on the global market. Winners of the competition will enjoy early admission and tuition-free education in a university of their liking.
The competition is open to all foreign citizens, as well as Russian citizens permanently living abroad, who already have a Bachelor’s degree or are completing their Bachelor’s education in 2018. Entering a Russian university has never been simpler and easier: the competition is conducted entirely online, and the criteria are clear and transparent.
Starting on November 20, 2017 participants can register on the project's website: od.globaluni.ru/en. To win a place in a coveted university, a prospective student should pass two rounds of selection. The first, qualifying, round is a portfolio contest. Entrants should upload their portfolios online via the project's platform from December 1 to December 31, 2017. Those who have successfully passed the portfolio contest are invited to the final round, an online test that will be available from January 25 to February 6, 2018. The results of the competition will be announced on February 20: a list of winners will be published on the project's website. The competition's tasks are available in Russian and English. Winners can also choose to study at their university of choice in either language.
This year, the competition is held in four subject areas: Mathematics, Computer Science, Economics, and Physics. Winners of the contest can select any program track within a subject area of their choice, and then apply to one or several Russian universities that have educational programs corresponding with the track that interests them.
National Research Nuclear University MEPhI is one of the key supervisors of Open Doors: Russian Scholarship Project. Each subject area of the competition is supervised by one of the prominent Russian universities. Mathematics is curated by Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, ITMO University (St. Petersburg) is in charge of Computer Science; National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow) supervises Physics, and Economics is taken care of by Higher School of Economics (Moscow). A number of other leading Russian higher education institutions act as co-organizers: National University of Science and Technology MISIS (Moscow), Tomsk State University, N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, Siberian Federal University (Krasnoyarsk), Novosibirsk State University, St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (Kaliningrad) and Ural Federal University (Yekaterinburg).
All the details on how to participate in Open Doors: Russian Scholarship Project can be found on the website: od.globaluni.ru/en.
