Admission

Intellectual School Olympiad

Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics, and Strategic Research Intellectual School Olympiad
Kazakhstan: Twenty Years of Independence, the Success Story Preparatory Workshops: February 18, February 25, 2012
March 3, 2012 -Essay writing, March 10, 2012- Presentations

The KIMEP School Olympiad, will be a competition for high-school students, and will take place in Spring 2011, by an initiative of the College of Social Science, Bang College of Business, and Law School. It will be open to high school seniors at their pre- graduating and graduating year from Almaty and other Kazakhstan regions.

The KIMEP School Olympiad will serve as one of the promotion tools to increase the enrollment to the KIMEP programs, increase publicity and loyalty to the KIMEP and the programs among potential applicants.

KIMEP aims at motivating high school students of Almaty and regions to:

• get more interested in social sciences, law, and business disciplines in general
• test and prove their competence in critical, inquisitive and creative thinking
• exchange knowledge and experience with other students of similar interest and qualification
• establish personal contacts with young people of the Almaty and region
• provide training for students participating in the KIMEP School Olympiad
• initiate discussion and co-operation in Social Sciences, Law, and Business education in the high schools

The Olympiad participants will write an essay and make a presentation on the topics offered by the college academic programs.

The possible topics will include but not limited to Kazakhstan achievements in transition period with a focus on economic transition, public sector reforms, mass media, and international relations.

Subject areas by field

Bang College of Business

Accounting: The role of accounting in the life of society and in my personal life

Finance: The role of financial markets in everyday life of the Kazakhstani citizens

Management: The role of management in the life of society

Marketing: Ethics in Marketing

Public Administration department

Kazakhstan Social Policy since Independence

Department of Economics

Kazakhstan Economic Development since Independence

Law School

Domestic Law: Constitution of Independent Kazakhstan

International Law: Independent KZ as a member of the UN

International Relations and Political Science department

Kazakhstan in Global Politics

Journalism and Mass Communication department

The Future of Social and Mass Media in Kazakhstan

Eligibility Criteria

1. High school seniors at their pre- graduating and graduating year are eligible to participate

2. Students with cumulative school GPA of 4.5  (out of 5.0 attainable) and above are eligible

3. English proficiency is an advantage

Application Package

1. Filled application form

2. Photo of a passport size

3.  Copy of a transcript for the last three quarters

5. Copy of ID

4. Recommendation letter from a school teacher or councilor

Candidates’ selection process

1. The schools are responsible for selecting the best candidates to participate in the Olympiad. Schools will decide to which college program the candidate should apply. The selection is based on student’s academic performance and outstanding skills and abilities of the candidates such as leadership, critical thinking, research, and public speaking skills.

2. Each participating school may nominate not more than 5 candidates of pre-graduating and graduating year.

3. Nomination Deadline

The due date for Olympiads candidate’s nomination by schools is February 29, 2012

4. The college selection committee will make a final selection of the candidates. Chosen candidates will be affiliated with the particular academic program.

Training workshops

The Colleges and academic departments will organize a series of preparatory workshop for successful candidates.

Registration

The participants are expected to arrive to KIMEP 1 hour prior to the official start up time that will be announced later.

The participants should present the ID cards to the staff member in charge in registration and receive exam entrance tickets

Writing the Essays

I. Every student writes an essay on one of the four topics given to them by the academic departments.

II. The essay must be written either in English, Kazakh, or Russian

III. The time of writing is 3 hours.

IV. The names of the authors of all essays are encoded and not known to until the final ranking is fixed.

Please note, that the Law school candidates will take a short test on relevant topics before writing an essay. The Law school committee will grade the essays of only top 20 candidates.

Grading the essays

The criteria of evaluation are: relevance to the topic, understanding of the topic, persuasive power of argumentation, coherence, and originality.

I. Each assessor gives his or her marks on a scale of 1 to 10 points, using intervals of  .5. (The assessors are the representatives of the academic departments of the college)

7.5-10 points means: I suggest this essay for the next stage.

5.5- 7  points means: I myself don’t suggest this essay, but I will agree if somebody else selects this essay.

1- 5   points means: I suggest that this essay should not be accepted for the next stage.

At the first stage of the grading each essay is marked by two assessors. If there are more than 3 points of difference among the individual marks, a third assessor will be appointed. At the end of the first stage all the essays which have received an average grade of at least 7 points are selected for the second stage.

II. At the second stage each remaining essay is marked by one additional assessor. The average mark of an essay is calculated on the basis of all the marks it has received – both the marks of the assessors at the first stage and the marks of the two assessors at the second stage. At the end of the second stage the Jury of assessors selects as the best essays for consideration in the third stage.

III. Presentation

At the third stage the topics of presentations will be distributed among the authors of the best essays. On week will be given for preparation. All of the presentations must be in English. The criteria of evaluation are: structure and organization, topic knowledge, creativity, visual aids, and stage presence.

IV. At the fourth stage the College Committees will make a decision on the distribution of prizes based on essay and presentation scores.

V. The final approval of scholarship distribution will be made by the KIMEP Admission and Scholarship committee in accordance with the KIMEP scholarship policies.

Note: pre-graduating and graduating students will be evaluated separately.

Awards

Awards are certificate of achievements, scholarships for graduating students, and exempt from tuition for pre-degree programs fro pre-graduating students.

Only those candidates who obtain average 9 and above score could be recipients of the highest award.

If none of the participants obtain the required score, the highest reward will not be granted.

Sscholarship distribution.

100% scholarship for 1^st place winners that covers 4 years of study, including pre-degree program

50% scholarship for 2d place winners covers 4 years of study, including pre-degree program

30% scholarship for 3d place winners covers 4 years of study, including pre-degree program

Proposed tuition exempt distribution for pre-graduating students

All of the 1^st place winners are exempted from the tuition for pre-degree programs (10 winners)

Please note that all of the school awardees should remain with the academic program of their first choice. If a scholarship recipient chooses to transfer to another degree program, the scholarship is cancelled.  BCB awardees are eligible to change their major but should remain with the academic program of their choice.