The nation-wide student Olympics in regional studies: the organisational and methodological aspects

The importance of academic Olympics, a competition among students to assess the creative application of knowledge and skills in the disciplines taught at institutions of higher education is increasing especially in the training of graduates because it serves to raise students' interest to the chosen profession, to develop the abilities of students, allows to find talented young people and form human resource for research and teaching activities. Mordovia State University has an extensive scientific and methodological experience in organising the IIIrd round of the nation-wide academic Olympics, which requires generalisation and elaboration of practical recommendations based on this experience. The article explores the procedure of the competition, the scheme of fulfillment of assignments, the specifics of assignments and evaluation criteria in the speciality „Regional Studies“ 2011. The Olympics programme combined various in form and content assignments: written assignments, testing (both in traditional form and computer-based), analytical notes, quizzes. The alternation of diverse assignments is rational from the point of view of competition procedure, because checking written assignments is a lengthy and time-consuming process, that is carried out during the testing and game competitions. Moreover, the combination of different types of activities reduces the psycho-emotional and physical strain on the Olympics’ participants.