Deadline:
November 16, 2025
Location(s)
Russia
Various universities
Overview
Open Doors: Russian Scholarship Project is your chance for tuition-free education and research career in Russia
Participate, win, and study for free in a Master's and PhD's program at one of the top universities of Russia!
Details
The Russian Federation has organized the Open Doors International Olympiad for the fourth time. This year introduces a doctoral track (analogous to Ph.D.) in addition to the usual master’s track. Depending on the chosen direction, the winners of the Olympiad will be able to enroll for free in the master's or postgraduate programs of their chosen University. Participants of the doctoral track will be able to choose a future research supervisor and pass an interview with them during the Olympiad.
Participation in the Olympiad and further education at the University are possible in Russian or English.
Foreigners can participate in the Olympiad, as well as compatriots permanently residing abroad. Participants of the master's track must have a bachelor's or specialist's degree or be completing an appropriate level of education in 2026. Participants of the doctoral track will need a specialist's or a master's degree.
Both master’s and doctoral tracks include 2 rounds that are held online. The first round is a portfolio competition. Those who have been successfully selected after the evaluation of the portfolios are invited to take part in the second round - the Olympiad itself, which is a series of proctored online tests.
Doctoral track includes one additional round which consists of an interview with potential research advisors at the participant’s choice. If the interview is successful, the participant chooses a research advisor from among those who gave them a pass.
Subject areas of the Open Doors
- Applied Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence
- Biology and Biotechnology
- Business and Management
- Chemistry and Materials Science
- Clinical Medicine and Public Health
- Computer and Data Science
- Earth and Environmental Sciences for Sustainability
- Economics and Econometrics
- Education and Psychology
- Engineering and Technology
- Physical Sciences and Technology
- Politics and International Studies
- Russian Language and Culture
- Urbanism and Civil Engineering
Opportunity is About
Eligibility
Candidates should be from:
Description of Ideal Candidate
The competition is open to foreigners and stateless persons, including compatriots living abroad, having a degree or completing a Bachelor program in the year of the Olympiad.
Dates
Deadline: November 16, 2025
Cost/funding for participants
The Olympiad is free to enter. There is no participation fee.
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 the Master's programme using a single window system, choosing any of 500 Russian universities, including 21 leading universities-participants of the 5-100 Project.
To have the right to a tuition-free enrollment in a Master’s program run by a Russian university, the winners and prize-winners of the Olympiad, who are foreign nationals and stateless persons, including compatriots living abroad, must submit a package of documents required for the registration of foreign applicants to the Information System of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, http://russia-edu.ru (hereinafter - the Information System of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation) in the Project Office of the Olympiad (opendoors@globaluni.ru). The Project Office sends the list of documents and the deadlines for their submission for registration to the Information System of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation within 10 (ten) days after the publication of the list of the winners and prize-winners of the Olympiad.
When filling out the application form for studying in Russia within the established quota for free education, the winner or the prize-winner of the Olympiad chooses one of the Master’s programs corresponding to the subject areas of the Olympiad and submit a preference ranking of universities implementing the chosen Master’s program.
When applying for a degree program, the winner or the prize-winner of the Olympiad can choose one of the Master’s programs presented in the corresponding subject areas of the Olympiad and offered by a higher education institution in Russia.
Un-save Opportunity
Internships, scholarships, student conferences and competitions.
