KSTU presented the results of the olympiads at the August conference

As part of the August Pedagogical Conference, a round-table discussion entitled Identifying, Developing, Guiding and Supporting Gifted Children and Talented Young People took place on 20 August at School No. 6. Kaliningrad State Technical University presented the results of its work on developing the olympiad movement and its proposals for the new academic year.

The conference celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Kaliningrad Region’s pedagogical traditions.

During the round-table discussion Identifying, Developing, Guiding and Supporting Gifted Children and Talented Young People, E.N. Gashchenko, Director of the Centre for Pre-university Projects at KSTU, gave a presentation on a network model of collaboration as the basis for the region’s olympiad movement.

Last academic year, KSTU co-organised 13 inter-university olympiads, including Zvezda, Gazprom, Izumrud, Kurchatov, Step into the Future, Hope of Power Engineering, and others. The qualifying and final rounds of these academic competitions took place at the university as well as at partner schools, including the Baltiysk Lyceum, schools Nos. 3, 6, 31, 33 and 58, grammar school No. 22, and the Maritime Cadet Corps. Some of the olympiads were held remotely. In total, more than 4,500 pupils in grades 6-11 from Kaliningrad and the region participated in the events. There were 170 winners and prize-winners, 55 of whom represented 15 municipal schools; some pupils received awards in several olympiads at once.

KSTU offers admission benefits to olympic competition winners on the Ministry of Education and Science’s list: applicants who scored 100 points on the Unified State Examination (EGE) in their specialised subject and at least 75 points on the entrance examination can skip the entrance exams for admission. First-year students who are olympiad winners receive an increased scholarship of 25,000 roubles.

For the new academic year, the university and schools face the tasks of broadening the geographical reach of participants, increasing the number of schools involved in the remote selection rounds, and raising awareness among parents and pupils through posts in school chat groups. In addition, KSTU plans to apply for the Trajectory 4K, Olympiad to be included in the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation’s list of events.

The round table concluded with letters of appreciation from the Kaliningrad Region Ministry of Education, recognising staff members of KSTU’s Centre for Pre-University Projects for their significant contribution to the development of the regional school olympiad movement: V.A. Lyashok, A.A. Alekseenko, and A.D. Kmet, as well as students and staff from the BFFSA—cadet K.E. Gordeeva—and IT support specialists from the Centre for Information Technology—M.S. Zapuskalov and R.R. Dominov.