Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –

Another year of the Open Doors Olympiad has ended. 29 talented young scientists were selected for postgraduate studies at the Polytechnic University.

The Open Doors Olympiad has been held for five years now, and foreign citizens from any country can participate in it. Winners of the bachelor’s, master’s or postgraduate tracks receive the right to free education at one of the leading Russian universities.

The selection is carried out in two stages: a portfolio competition and an Olympiad in the online testing format. The tasks are divided into 14 topics, each participant must pass the selection in the selected profile. Universities offer educational programs and postgraduate academic supervisors linked to the profiles.

The Polytechnic University participates in 11 profiles, in two of them – “Urban Studies and Civil Engineering”, “Economics and Econometrics” – it acts as a coordinator: it proposes selection criteria, carries out methodological and expert work on drawing up assignments and forms a jury to evaluate the work.

The 2024 Olympiad is distinguished by a sharp increase in interest in engineering and natural sciences. 22 future postgraduate students (three quarters of this year’s winners) chose engineering and technical fields and scientific supervisors from leading Polytechnic institutes – ISI, IE, IBSiB, IKNK, PhysMech, and IET.

The leader in attracting postgraduate students through the Open Doors mechanism this time was the Civil Engineering Institute: ten applicants will study in postgraduate studies and build a career in the field of construction, design and geoecology.

Thanks to the development of the Urban Studies and Civil Engineering profile, which is supervised by the Civil Engineering Institute, this year the number of foreign students in the English-language Civil Engineering Master’s program has increased significantly. The geography of foreign applicants is expanding, their main request is to receive a world-class Russian engineering education. Our postgraduate program in geoecology also attracts increased attention from foreigners. This gives confidence in the long-term development of the institute, the expansion of its international positioning, and the influx of new young scientists, – says Marina Petrochenko, Director of the ISI.

Traditionally, there is high interest in the postgraduate programs of the Institute of Biomedical Systems and Biotechnology: more than 35 candidates signed up for interviews with the scientific directors of this institute. Of these, four people were chosen, the most motivated, suitable in terms of topics and level of knowledge for the current scientific groups and laboratories. In addition, for the first time, two postgraduate students in the profile “Physical and Technical Sciences” will be admitted to SPbPU; scientific groups of the PhysMech and the Institute of Economics and Technology are waiting for them.

I was surprised by the interest of foreign applicants in fundamental research into the optical properties of semiconductor micro- and nanostructures, which I supervise in the laboratory of “Spectroscopy of Semiconductors and Nanostructures”. Based on the interview results, our capabilities coincided with the desire of an applicant from Pakistan under my supervision in the specialty “Physics of Semiconductors”. This candidate already had two scientific articles from first and second quartile journals, – shared associate professor of the Higher Engineering Physics School of the Institute of Economics and Technology Maksim Vinnichenko.

The Institute of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade actively participates in the Olympiad and shows excellent results, which are highly appreciated by the organizing committee. A year ago, at the suggestion of the organizers, Polytechnic became the coordinator of the profile “Economics and Econometrics”, and the specialists of IMPET demonstrated a good level of expert and methodological work. Therefore, from next year, another profile of the Olympiad – “Business and Management” – will be supervised by Polytechnic.

In the spring, SPbPU international services, together with the institute directorates, begin to form a pool of scientific supervisors willing to take part in the Olympiad. By the fall, an extensive information package on postgraduate programs, laboratories, as well as information about scientists, including a video and portfolio, will be prepared. Based on the information posted on the website, future participants will be able to choose places for postgraduate study. In 2025, out of 36,000 registered people, only 474 were admitted to the third stage.

The third stage takes place in January-February. Scientific supervisors get access to the portfolios of absolutely all winners of the second stage in their profile and can invite the most experienced and those who have shown high scores to an interview. This is truly a selection of talents. Every year we try to expand the range of scientists, attract new scientific groups, laboratories with interesting research tasks and topics. All so that participants can find a suitable supervisor and the place that will become the launching pad for their scientific career, – said the manager of the postgraduate track, head of the department of international interuniversity cooperation Ekaterina Belyaevskaya.

Every year, 35-40 professors and associate professors of SPbPU participate in the Olympiad as scientific supervisors. In 2025, they conducted 179 interviews with applicants and selected 29 future postgraduate students from eight countries. After completing all the necessary documents, these students will come to SPbPU in the fall. Some of them will immediately begin their postgraduate studies in Russian- or English-language programs, while others will spend another year mastering Russian in the preparatory faculty programs.

The Polytechnic University pays the closest attention to the quality of foreign students and postgraduates. The path to the university through the Open Doors Olympiad selection mechanism is the path for real talents, future scientists. The leadership of our country sets the universities the task of improving the quality of applicants, searching for and attracting scientific talents from all over the world. Therefore, we will treat the winners of the Olympiad with the utmost attention, supporting and developing their scientific career, adapting them to the university community, instilling love and respect for our university and country, – emphasized Vice-Rector for International Affairs Dmitry Arsenyev.

I participated in this event as a scientific supervisor. I was surprised by the level of preparation of the candidates. Among the interlocutors were top-level IT developers, the results of whose work have been implemented in the infrastructure of their home countries. Participation in Open Doors is an important tool for international communication and development, which allows strong applicants from other countries to find their way in Russian science, and scientific supervisors to strengthen their positions in international science, – shared Konstantin Semenov, Associate Professor of the Higher School of Computer Technologies and Information Systems of the IKNK.

To become a scientific supervisor for the Olympiad in 2025, you can contact Ekaterina Belyaevskaya, email: Belyaevskaya@spbsty.ru.

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