Open Doors: Russian Scholarship Project is your chance for an early admission to a tuition-free PhD program at one of the leading universities in Russia.
The OpenDoors competition has been held annually since 2017. In 2024, the contest received over 146,000 applications from students from 185 countries. It is organized by the Association of Global Universities, a consortium of leading Russian universities, and is supported by the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education and Rossotrudnichestvo. ITMO University is a co-organizer of the competition and has been an active contributor to the project since its very beginning. ITMO is one of the leading universities in Russia; it occupies high positions in international rankings and attracts students from all over the world. Click here to learn more about the university, and here to discover the beautiful city of St. Petersburg, the home of ITMO.
The competition is open to foreign citizens and stateless persons, including compatriots living abroad, having a secondary education or completing it (for Bachelor’s track), having a Bachelor’s degree or completing a Bachelor’s degree program (for the Master’s track), having a Master’s or Specialist’s degree (for the PhD track), or having a PhD or a candidate/doctor of science degree.
Registration and more info is available via the Open Doors' website, VK page, and Telegram channel.
The competition has four tracks: for Bachelor’s, Master’s, PhD students and for postdoctoral researchers. Participation is free of charge and the competition is held online. The working languages are English and Russian. Winners of the relevant track will be able to study for free at ITMO University.
You can find profiles of prospective research supervisors here.
The selection process for the PhD track has three rounds:
Learn the stories of competition winners who were accepted to ITMO University:
A subject area of the Open Doors international academic competition is a scientific or academic field you as a prospective PhD’s student would like to specialize in.
Can’t decide which subject area suits you best? Apply for participation in two (three, four, ten) subject areas in one go!
The Open Doors international academic competition is held in three rounds.
The first round is a portfolio contest. It will be held from September 5 to November 20, 2024.
You will need to choose a subject area (or several subject areas), register on the competition’s website and upload your achievements (diplomas, certificates, grants and publications) in each chosen subject area.
Study the list of PhD’s programs available to the competition winners above, pick those you like the most, and check if you submitted a portfolio for a corresponding subject area.
The results of the first round are decided by an expert jury consisting of representatives of Russia’s leading universities. The participants with the most achievement-heavy portfolios are admitted to the second round.
The second round is a problem-solving contest. It will be held online on December 5-10, 2024.
Points for the first and second rounds are added up.
The third round is the selection and interview with the potential scientific supervisor by the PhD track participants from January 20 to February 20, 2025.
The participants with the most points after the two rounds will make it to the top-25% of the ranked list of the Open Doors international academic competition winners.
More than 800 Master’s places at Russia’s leading universities have been allocated to the Open Doors international academic competition winners. They will be granted free tuition for the duration of their studies. In case the chosen PhD’s program is held in Russian, the winners will also receive free Russian language training as part of ITMO University’s Foundation program.
All international students are provided accommodation in the university’s dorms as required. Get familiar with our dorms through our website and housing tour videos for dorms on Belorusskaya St., Alpiysky Ln., and Vyazemsky Ln. In addition, ITMO students can opt to rent rooms through the ITMO.Aparts service.