This year, prospective students can apply for Bachelor’s and Master’s studies at ITMO University starting from February. 

Admission to regular tuition-free positions of ITMO University’s programs for the 2020–2021 academic year starts on February 1, 2020 and concludes:

  • for prospective students applying on the basis of ITMO’s own entrance examinations: on July 10 (18:00 MSK);

  • for prospective students applying on the basis of Unified State Exams: on July 26 (18:00 MSK).

Admission to fee-based positions starts on February 1 and concludes on August 20.

The application process takes place in a prospective student’s personal page on the ITMO Admissions website. After filling in an application form, prospective students get a letter containing a list of documents (typically a copy of their national ID, official education documents, and various certificates confirming their accomplishments) they need to email scans of these documents to the Admission Office at international@itmo.ru. If and once admitted, they then need to send in the originals by regular mail. Detailed step-by-step admission guides for Bachelor’s and Master’s studies are available on the ITMO International website.

General information

This year, the amount of tuition-free places at ITMO University will not undergo any significant changes. There will be a total of 1,108 tuition-free spots for all Bachelor’s programs and 2,677 for Master’s programs. 

Prospective students will be able to choose from 25 Bachelor’s programs and over 70 Master’s programs. 

As of now, all of ITMO University Bachelor’s programs are taught in Russian (with a range of English-taught courses included in the curriculum), so knowing Russian is one of the admission requirements for prospective Bachelor’s students. 

To help international applicants prepare for studies in Russia, ITMO runs a special Foundation Program, an intensive nine-month Russian course covering the necessary language skills and providing additional training in the subjects ITMO holds entrance examinations in. You can learn more and enroll here. A significant part of ITMO’s regular Master’s curriculum is also taught in Russian, so prospective Master’s students are also welcome to apply. 

For those interested in English-language programs only, ITMO implements a wide range of international Master’s programs, some in collaboration with its partner universities from all over the world. Their list can be found here, and here is the step-by-step application guide. When applying, please note that these types of programs have different application deadlines. 

Entrance examinations

The first entrance examinations for Bachelor’s and Master’s studies will be held online as soon as the end of February (their schedule is available here, in Russian). Thus, prospective students can take the exams from wherever is most comfortable for them. For this, ITMO University developed a special platform that, in addition to tasks, includes a proctorial system for ensuring fair play among the examinees. The system is expected to encourage more international applicants to apply and make the process more open and transparent. 

Opportunities for applicants

ITMO University offers a wide range of opportunities for enrolling with no entrance examinations and, in some cases, no tuition fees. For example, prospective Bachelor’s students can take part in the Portfolio contest, or get additional application points at the Essay Competition. There is a currently ongoing Portfolio competition for prospective Master’s students. The full list of all opportunities and their deadlines can be found here.