This year, the International Economics Olympiad will surpass the 100,000 participants from all over the world. This all can happen thanks to INEV new partner – American foundation the Economic Fundamentals Initiative (EFI), that brings Economics Olympiad into 8 new countries!
Over 100,000 students in a total of 17 countries will participate in the International Economics Olympiad this year. Compared to last year, this is an increase of more than two times. The originally Czech idea for raising awareness of the economics and improving financial literacy at high schools managed to significantly expand abroad this year thanks to a new partnership with the American foundation Economic Fundamentals Initiative (EFI). It will ensure launching the Economics Olympiad in 8 other countries where it already operates. Starting today, the schools in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, and Ukraine can sign up for the Economics Olympiad.
“We have common goals with EFI – to raise more interest in economics among students and teachers and to open the door to improving economic education in schools. Thanks to EFI’s involvement, the Economics Olympiad will spread to new countries faster and reach more students,” explains Martina Bacikova, founder of the Institute of Economic Education (INEV), which has been organizing the Economics Olympiad in the Czech Republic since 2017 and now, through non-profit franchise, provides its know-how to abroad to licensed national partners.
“We were really excited to discover the Economics Olympiad. Its beauty lies not only in the testing of students, but also the other projects that it generates – teacher training, providing high-quality textbooks and study materials and building a community of teachers to share experience of teaching economics. It’s a natural next step in the evolution of EFI,” explains Eleanor Hammond, EFI’s Program and Partnerships Director.
Apart from the Economics Olympiad, EFI has another interesting connection with the Czech Republic. Professor of Economics, Mr. Randall K. Filer who was at the origin of this American foundation, has been visiting the CERGE-EI educational institute at Charles University since 1993 as a visiting professor. Until 2021, he also served as the President of the CERGE-EI-Foundation, whose mission is the all-round support and development of economic education, teaching, and research.
In addition to 8 “EFI countries” newly included to the Economics Olympiad and the 7 countries where the Economics Olympiad was held last year, the Czech project will also expand to Vietnam and Iran this year.
The school rounds will take place in 17 countries this year. In the spring, they will be followed by regional rounds and then by national final round. Their winners will then meet in the autumn in the international finals, which will be hosted in Bratislava this year.
“Fifteen countries are just the beginning. Our vision is that in the future all countries around the globe will participate in the Economics Olympiad, and that it will become a regular part of their educational systems. I consider it realistic that one day the project will reach more than a million participants. The more widespread the Economics Olympiad will be, the more people will have at least the basics of economics and financial literacy. We can see how important this knowledge is in everyday life all around us today and every day,” concludes Bacikova.
