The MGIMO International School Olympiad for Foreign Citizens
A competition built for foreign citizens in the final years of secondary school who plan to apply to the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). The qualifying stage runs remotely, participation is free under the Competition Regulations — and the announced registration deadline for the 2026/27 season is 31 October 2026.
Applications are open right now, and that is the only confirmed date we have for the current season. The dates and formats of the qualifying and final stages are set per country/group according to the annual plan and the Organising Committee — follow them on the official website as they are announced.
60 days left until the deadline31 October 2026🇪🇬 If you are in Egypt: the current announcement names African countries as an eligible group — Egypt falls under it. But note how the announcement works: it lists named groups, so not every nationality is included — if your country is not in the list below, ask the Organising Committee in writing before you prepare.
⚠️ Do not confuse it with MGIMO's general school olympiad: the university also runs a general school olympiad at olymp.mgimo.ru — a different entity with different rules, dates and registration portal. Registration for this one happens on int-olymp-mgimo.com only.
🔴 And do not confuse it with the Russian Government Scholarship: what the official website describes is a budget-funded place at MGIMO subject to the Competition Regulations and admission rules — not the general Russian Government Scholarship or government quota route. They are two different paths with different conditions.
What is this competition?
The MGIMO International School Olympiad is a competition for students from foreign countries who want to study at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, the university of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs — one of Russia's best-known institutions for international relations, diplomacy and international law.
The competition assesses your language skills as well as a body of knowledge tied to geography, world history and international relations — so it works more like a readiness test for MGIMO's own track than a single-subject exam.
And the key point is that it is not just a certificate of participation: according to the official website, winning may provide the right to enter a budget-funded place in MGIMO bachelor's programmes — subject to the Competition Regulations and the university's admission rules. The benefit section below spells this out.
What do winners receive?
① Selection is competitive and not guaranteed — winning is not a certain outcome of any amount of preparation.
② This is not the Russian Government Scholarship. The official website describes the benefit as a budget-funded place at MGIMO, not the Russian Government Scholarship route or the government quota. Do not read about one and apply its conditions to the other.
③ The wording "may provide" is deliberate — the Competition Regulations govern, and MGIMO's admission rules govern alongside them. Read the current regulations yourself before any final step.
In the 2025/26 cycle, per the officially published results: 4,148 foreign citizens applied, 387 participants reached the final, 42 winners were selected and 27 prize-winners.
Official results for that cycle stated that winners received the right to tuition-free study in MGIMO bachelor's programmes and the preparatory course under the applicable regulations and admission rules, while prize-winners were offered priority admission to fee-paying places through a portfolio competition without entrance examinations.
⚠️ These are figures from a past cycle, for context only. The terms of the 2026/27 season are governed by the current season's regulations and admission rules — do not assume they will be identical.
How to apply
Register on the official platform of the international competition — not on MGIMO's general olympiad portal:
🔴 If your country is not named explicitly in the announcement: write to the Organising Committee and ask directly, "is my nationality eligible for the 2026/27 season?" It is a completely legitimate question, and you deserve the answer before you spend months preparing.
Competition stages
On the official competition platform — the announced deadline is 31 October 2026.
Conducted remotely through the official platform, so you take it from your own country. Detailed dates are published on the website.
The format and venue are determined for the participating countries/groups according to the annual competition plan and the Organising Committee.
Competition subjects
The assessment areas exactly as announced on the official competition website:
Who can participate?
The competition addresses students in the final years/classes of secondary education who plan to apply to MGIMO.
This is the core condition — the competition is designed for foreign citizens, not a domestic contest opened up to them.
Azerbaijan · Armenia · Belarus · Kazakhstan · Kyrgyzstan · Tajikistan · Turkmenistan · Uzbekistan · Serbia · Mongolia · India · Iran · African countries · Latin American countries · China · ASEAN countries.
Under the wording of the current announcement, Egypt falls within the African countries group — so you are inside the announced groups.
The announcement works through named groups, not "all foreigners". If your country is not on the list, do not assume eligibility — ask the Organising Committee in writing first.
The Russian language paper applies to citizens of the CIS group according to the competition rules and the current announcement — not to everyone.
Tap any question to open the answer ▾
💬I'm Egyptian — can I take part?
Just remember that the announcement works through named groups, not "all foreigners" — so if someone asks you about a nationality that is not on the list, the correct answer is "ask the Organising Committee", not "yes".
💬Is this the same MGIMO school olympiad I've heard about?
• MGIMO's general school olympiad lives at olymp.mgimo.ru, with its own rules and calendar.
• This international competition — the subject of this page — lives at int-olymp-mgimo.com and is reserved for foreign citizens.
If you are an international student, this one is your route.
💬What exactly is tested?
So if your track is purely scientific, this is not your competition — the content is entirely humanities and international affairs.
💬Is there a participation fee?
💬If I win, is my admission to MGIMO guaranteed?
So winning opens a door, and the final decision rests with the regulations and the admission process. And this is not the Russian Government Scholarship or the quota — a different route with different conditions.
💬Where are the qualifying and final stage dates?
The official landing page may still be displaying the previous season's calendar — and we have deliberately carried nothing over from it. Follow the official website and your account on the platform; the detailed schedule will appear there as soon as it is announced.
💬Is it an annual opportunity? And what happened last cycle?
⚠️ But those are last cycle's figures, for context only — the terms and benefits of the 2026/27 season are governed by the current season's regulations.
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Register early, and start on English and international relations now
Registration closes 31 October 2026, and the qualifying stage is remote so you take it from your own country. If you sign up with us, we'll alert you the moment the detailed schedule is announced.