The Open Doors Scholarship is a full scholarship program for students who want to study for a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD degree. Winners of this program get to attend any Russian university without taking entrance exams, and their tuition is paid for by the Russian government.
Those who win can choose their university through a simple process. Classes can be in either English or Russian, depending on the program and school they pick. The program offers four areas of study: Undergraduate, Master’s, Doctoral, and Post-doctoral.
This is the eighth time the Open Doors International Olympiad is taking place! Winners can study in bachelor’s, master’s, or postgraduate programs at their chosen university. For those in the postdoctoral track, they can get a job as a researcher on one of the available projects. Winners in the doctoral track can pick a research supervisor and have an interview with them during the Olympiad. The postdoctoral winners will also be interviewed by the leaders of the research projects.
The competition includes three rounds: first is a portfolio review, second is a problem-solving challenge, and third is an interview with a research supervisor for the doctoral program. The program is open to foreign citizens and stateless persons, including those with Bachelor’s degrees or those finishing their Bachelor’s degree in the same year for the Master’s track, and those with Master’s or Specialist’s degrees for the doctoral track.
Who Can Apply?
To apply for the 2026 Open Doors Russian Scholarship, you need to meet these requirements:
- The scholarship is open to anyone from outside Russia and people without citizenship, including those from Russia living in other countries. You should have a Bachelor’s degree or be finishing your Bachelor’s degree this year to apply for a Master’s program. If you want a PhD, you need to have a Master’s or equivalent degree this year.
- Everyone applying must agree to let their personal data be processed.
- The competition will be held in English and Russian.
- The Olympiad is divided by Subjects, which means it covers different fields for Master’s studies and various areas for PhD studies. Each Subject groups together similar degree programs.
- You can find more details about the Subjects on the websites of the schools involved.
- If you win the Olympiad and have a Bachelor’s degree, you can get into Master’s programs at Russian universities that match what the Olympiad covers, depending on the quota decided by the Russian government for international students and stateless individuals.
How to Apply
If you want to apply for the Open Doors Scholarship 2026, just follow these simple steps:
- Register Online: You can sign up on the Olympiad website from September 1 to November 16. Just use a computer with internet.
- Click “SIGN UP”: Go to the Olympiad site and click the “SIGN UP” button.
- Your Account: After registering, you’ll get access to your own account.
- Data Consent: By signing up, you agree to let your personal information be used according to Russian law.
- One Account Only: You can only register once a year. Having more than one account means you will be disqualified.
- Enter Your Information: When you register, you must provide your personal details, make a login using your email, and create a password. After this, you will get all the updates about the Olympiad.
- Resources Available: Once registered, you can check out important info about how to build your portfolio, what the evaluation criteria are, and practice tasks for the second stage.
Follow these steps to make sure your application goes well!
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