The methodological seminar is held annually by the Open Doors distributed office, which includes more than 1,000 representatives of the universities organizing the project. Representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation also take part in the event. This time, the discussion focused on the specifics of promoting intellectual competitions for talented foreign youth in the global market, as well as the features of methodological support, taking into account the diversity of foreign education systems, using the example of Open Doors: Russian Scholarship Project.

The program of the methodological seminar included an interactive online module with independent work by experts on the exchange of experience and an intensive face-to-face module on refining the model for promoting Russian education and the methodological framework for holding intellectual competitions in order to ensure the best results for the Open Doors-2026.

Open Doors-2025 started on September 1 with four tracks (bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and post-doctoral) and 14 interdisciplinary subject areas. During the first half of the period allocated for participant registration and the first stage of selection, more than 120,000 people from 195 countries registered to participate in the Olympiad, which is 30% more than last year's figures. The first results of the 2025 Olympiad will be announced for the bachelor's and master's tracks on December 31, 2025, while participants in the doctoral and postdoctoral tracks still have to go through the third stage – individual interviews with potential academic supervisors and research project leaders from Russian universities.

The event is aimed at achieving the national goal set out in the decree of the President of the Russian Federation to attract at least 500,000 foreign students to Russia by 2030.

“The Open Doors: Russian Scholarship Project is a showcase for Russia as a great educational power. Every year, tens of thousands of talented applicants from around the world try their hand at participating . More than 12,000 young people from 190 countries who have become winners and prize-winners of Open Doors have already fulfilled their dreams and enrolled in leading Russian universities. At the same time, the project itself continues to develop. Its competitiveness is growing, and the tasks are being improved. I am confident that in 2026, participants will appreciate the efforts of the Open Doors team and will derive genuine intellectual pleasure from taking part in the project," said Konstantin Mogilevsky, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Russia.

About the Olympiad

The Open Doors: Russian Scholarship Project has been held since 2017 by member universities of the Global Universities Association. Over the past eight years, approximately 500,000 people from more than 190 countries have participated in the intellectual competitions. About 90% of them live in Asia and Africa. More than 12,000 winners and prize-winners of Open Doors have earned the right to study for free at the best Russian universities. 

Regular surveys show that Open Doors participants consider education and research in Russia to be on par with education in China, Germany, the UK, and the US, which are traditionally attractive to applicants. 

Open Doors is conducted entirely online on the original platform (od.globaluni.ru), in Russian and English, at the participant's choice. 

This year, the competition is being held for bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and post-doctoral tracks, across 14 interdisciplinary subject areas. Upon successful completion of the intellectual competitions, participants in the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral tracks can receive winner or runner-up status and choose a program in Russian or English at a Russian university for further study. Winners in the post-doctoral track are offered the opportunity to work on one of the research projects presented by the universities organizing the competition.

Every year, the Open Doors team improves the mechanisms for finding and selecting the most talented and motivated candidates for study at Russian universities. The subject areas reflect the thematic interests of participants in the global market, and the teaching materials for different profiles are implemented according to uniform principles.