I am a Professional Olympiad: the fifth season’s recap

On May 31 in Moscow, summing up the results of the fifth season of the I am a Professional Olympiad was held. This Olympiad is one of the flagship projects of the Russia – the Counrty of Opportunities presidential platform. The project is supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

In the academic year 2021/2022, the Olympiad was held for the fifth time. The Olympiad included 72 academic fields ranging from journalism to robotics. Traditionally, the competition comprises two rounds: the preliminary round and the final one. The organizers note that comparing to the previous season the number of participants at the final round increased from 15,170 to 16,917 participants. The number of qualifiers has also risen. While in the fourth season there were 3,381 competitors, in the fifth season 4,082 participants from 380 higher educational institutions were awarded diplomas. About 140 participants were gold medallists, 187– silver medallists, 231– bronze medallists, as well as 1,282 competitors became winners and 2,242-awardees.

For the first time in five years, the Teacher Education (basic) academic field, which is launched by Moscow City University, ranked top ten by number of diploma holders. The university itself was also in the top ten by the number of diploma holders. In addition, MCU ranked fifteenth among all universities in the country by the number of medals won by MCU’s students .

Valeriy Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education, congratulated the Olympiad winners and emphasized that the competition raised the prestige of Russia’s regional universities. Since this year, students’ participation in the I am a Professional Olympiad has been one of the criteria for a university to be included in the well-known RAEX ranking in the professional community. It includes 136 universities, 29 of them are organizers of the Olympiad.

Valeriya Kasamara, Head of the I am a Professional Olympiad, recaped the main results:

This anniversary season is special in many ways, namely in the establishment of the top laureates. Traditionally, Mathematics and Medicine and Pediatrics rank first-lines. However, the picture changes in the fifth season: Psychology, Law, Design and Ecology – these fashionable directions are popular among young people. Human Resources Management was only in the top 10 in the third season and now ranks seventh by number of graduates. Pharmaceutical Science, Teacher Education (basic) and Asian Studies were in the top for the first time in 5 years!

The fifth season’s diploma holders will receive prizes: benefits for admission to graduate, postgraduate and residency training programs in leading Russian universities, and the opportunity to complete an internship in a major professional company. The strongest participants of the Olympiad are bronze, silver and gold medalists. They will also receive money rewards from 100 to 300 thousand rubles.

The All-Russian Student Olympiad I am a Professional is held for Bachelor’s, Specialist and Master’s degree students of Russian universities. The aim of the project is to support talented students of different specialties, which will enable them to continue their studies at the country’s leading university or start a career in a major company. The fifth anniversary Olympiad season is holding in 2021/2022. Participants have tried their hand in one or more of the 72 academic fields ranging from philology to robotics.

The Olympiad organizers are: Association of Student Olympiad Organisers I am a Professional, Russia – the Counrty of Opportunities, Russian Union of Industrialists and Enterpreneurs and leading Russian universities. The Olympiad organizers also include leading national companies such as Sberbank, Pipe Metallurgical Company, VTB Bank, Rosatom State Corporation, Rosselkhozbank, Inter RAO, Gazprombank (Joint Stock Company), AI Alliance Russia and Polyus Company. The technical partner of the Olympiad is Yandex. Totally, more than 500 Russian companies are involved in organizing and conducting the Olympiad.