Regulation the Olympiad of school students on the history of engineering

General provisions

1. These Regulations for the Olympiad of school students on the history of engineering (hereinafter referred to as the Olympiad) set forth the procedure for organising and conducting the Olympiad, its organisational and methodological support, for the participation in the Olympiad and determining its winners and awardees.
2. The main purpose of the Olympiad is to identify and develop school students’ creative abilities and interest in research activities, creating necessary conditions to support and develop gifted children, disseminate and popularise scientific knowledge on the history of engineering, encourage talented young people to study at leading universities in Russia.
3. The Olympiad is held by the decision of the Organising Committee of the Olympiad. The organisers of the Olympiad are Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education ‘St Petersburg State University’ (hereinafter — St Petersburg State University, St Petersburg University) and Federal State Budgetary Institution of Culture ‘Central Museum of Railway Transport of the Russian Federation’ (hereinafter — Central Museum of Railway Transport) under a respective agreement.
4. The Olympiad encourages the participants to carry out research works on topics related to the history of engineering.
5. The Olympiad is held within the period set by the decision of the Organising Committee of the Olympiad, and includes two stages:
   1. qualifying stage, which involves a stage of preparing research papers on the history of engineering by the participants;
   2. final stage, which is held in the form of public defence of research papers of by the participants, determined as winners and awardees of the qualifying stage;
   3. public defence of research papers at the final stage is held in St Petersburg. Videoconferencing systems shall be used to ensure public defence of research works by participants from other constituting entities of the Russian Federation and (or) foreign countries during the final stage upon the decision of the Organising Committee of the Olympiad.
6. The working language of the Olympiad is the official language of the Russian Federation — Russian.
7. The Olympiad is a voluntary competition for students of general education programmes.
8. Financial support for the Olympiad is provided by St Petersburg State University and Central Museum of Railway Transport.
9. No fee for the participation in the Olympiad must be charged.

Organisational and methodological support for the Olympiad

1. To conduct the Olympiad, the Organising Committee of the Olympiad, the Methodological Commission of the Olympiad, the Jury of the Olympiad, the Appeals Panel of the Olympiad are created for the period not exceeding one year. The Organising Committee of the Olympiad, the Methodical Commission of the Olympiad, the Jury of the Olympiad and the Appeals Panel of the Olympiad shall be approved by the Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Admissions of St Petersburg State University.
2. The structure and composition of the Organising Committee of the Olympiad, which includes employees of St Petersburg State University and Central Museum of Railway Transport, is approved by the Rector of St Petersburg State University (or a duly authorised officer).
3. The Organising Committee of the Olympiad (hereinafter referred to as the Organising Committee) performs the following functions and powers:
   1. develops a draft of the Regulations for the Olympiad and drafts of necessary changes to it;
   2. proposes the composition of the Methodological Commission of the Olympiad (hereinafter — the Methodological Commission), the Jury of the Olympiad (hereinafter — the Jury) and the Appeals Panel of the Olympiad (hereinafter — the Appeals Panel);
   3. approves the topics of research papers to develop for the Olympiad;
   4. approves the Rules for the Olympiad;
   5. approves the criteria and methodology for evaluating research works within the qualifying stage, criteria and methodology for evaluating the results of public defence of research works within the final stage;
   6. approves the schedule of the Olympiad;
   7. approves the results of the Olympiad, including the list of winners and awardees of the Olympiad based on the proposals of the Chair of the Jury;
   8. approves the rules for filing and considering appeals of participants of the Olympiad and decides on the results of the consideration of the Olympiad participants appeals;
   9. performs other functions and powers deemed necessary to support the Olympiad activities.
4. Members of the Organising Committee of the Olympiad take part in the award ceremony for the winners and awardees of the Olympiad.
5. The Organising Committee shall propose the structure and composition of the Methodological Commission of the Olympiad to be approved by the Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Admissions. The Methodological Commission of the Olympiad includes employees of St Petersburg State University and Central Museum of Railway Transport, and may also include leading experts in the field of engineering history who are not employees of St Petersburg State University or Central Museum of Railway Transport.
6. The Methodical Commission of the Olympiad performs the following functions and powers:
   1. develops and proposes the topics of research papers to have them approved by the Organising Committee;
   2. develops and proposes the criteria and evaluation methods specified in sub-clause 2.3.5 of the Regulations to have them approved by the Organising Committee;
   3. proposes on the improvements for the Olympiad to have them approved by the Organising Committee;
   4. performs other functions and powers under the Regulations for the Olympiad.
7. The Organising Committee shall propose the structure and composition of the Jury of the Olympiad to be approved by the Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Admissions. The Jury of the Olympiad consists of employees of St Petersburg State University and Central Museum of Railway Transport, and may also include leading experts in the field of engineering history who are not employees of St Petersburg State University or Central Museum of Railway Transport. The members of the Jury of the Olympiad cannot be members of both the Methodological and Appeals Panel of the Olympiad.
8. The Jury of the Olympiad performs the following functions and powers:
   1. reviews and evaluates the research papers prepared by the participants, confers points for their public defence performance;
   2. forwards to the Organising Committee the records with the results based on the Jury’s research papers verification and evaluation, conferred points for public defence of research papers by the participants of the Olympiad to have them approved, including the ranking list of the participants of the Olympiad with the determined winners and awardees of the Olympiad;
   3. performs other functions and powers under the Regulations for the Olympiad.
9. The structure and composition of the Appeals Panel of the Olympiad shall be proposed by the Organising Committee of the Olympiad and approved by the Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Admissions. The Appeals Panel consists of at least three 3 (three) persons, including the scientific, research and teaching staff of St Petersburg University, employees of Central Museum of Railway Transport. It may also include leading experts in the field of engineering who are not employees of St Petersburg University or Central Museum of Railway Transport. Members of the Jury must not be members of the Appeals Panel of the Olympiad.
10. The Appeals Panel performs the following functions:
    1. accepts and considers the appeals from the participants of the Olympiad;
    2. forwards drafts of the decisions based on the results of consideration of the appeals of the Olympiad participants for approval by the Organising Committee;
    3. informs the participant of the Olympiad who filed appeals about the final decision on the appeals after it has been approved by the Organising Committee.
    4. performs other functions and powers under the Regulations for the Olympiad

The procedure for organising and conducting the Olympiad

1. The schedule of the Olympiad for the current academic year is approved by the co-chairs of the Organising Committee based on the decision of the Organising Committee at least before the start date of the Olympiad and is made available through the official website of St Petersburg University Admissions Office www.abiturient.spbu.ru.
2. The winners and awardees of the qualifying stage of the Olympiad are admitted to participate in the final stage.
3. Filing and consideration of appeals against the results of the Olympiad are carried out according to the Regulations developed and approved by the Organising Committee.

Winners and awardees of the Olympiad

1. Consolidation of the results of the Olympiad is carried out based on the points conferred for the individual championship.
2. The winners and awardees of the qualifying stage of the Olympiad are determined based on the points conferred on the participants for the qualifying stage of the Olympiad. The winners and awardees of the Olympiad are determined based on the points conferred on the participants for the final stage of the Olympiad.
3. At the Organising Committee’s discretion, the participants of the Olympiad may be awarded certificates of participation, diplomas, and memorable gifts.
4. The final stage winners’ and awardess’ diplomas of the Olympiad are signed by the co-chairs and (or) the Executive Secretary of the Organising Committee of the Olympiad.

Changes and additions to the Regulations

1. All changes and additions to these present Regulations are developed by the Organising Committee of the Olympiad and approved by the Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Admissions of St Petersburg University.