Statutes
The Statutes of The International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO)
INTRODUCTION The International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO) is an annual individual and team competition in the natural sciences for fifteen -year-old students. It has been established in recognition of the significance of the natural sciences in the general education of young people and in all aspects of their lives. It is a purely educational event. No country may have its delegation excluded from participation on political grounds, lack of diplomatic relations, lack of recognition by the government of the organizing country, imposed embargoes or similar reasons. When difficulties preclude formal invitation of the delegation representing a country, student from such a country should be invited to participate as individual delegations. Religious or political propaganda against any person or country or disruption of any aspect of the IJSO is strictly forbidden. Participation in the IJSO either by a host country, a delegation or an observer signifies acceptance of the statutes and all other accepts of the IJSO. OBJECTIVES The objectives of the IJSO
The aims of the IJSO
ADMINISTRATION The IJSO is organized in late November or early December by the International Junior Science Olympiad Organizing Committee (OC) on behalf of the appropriate Governmental Department or Institution(s) of one of the participating countries on whose territory the competition is to be conducted. The duration of the Olympiad (including the arrival and departure days) should not be less than 9 days. English is the working language of the IJSO and competition problems and their solutions should be presented in to the IJSO International Board (IB) in English. The organizers may also prepare these documents in other languages. Within five years of its entry in the competition a country should declare its intention to be the host of a future IJSO so that the order of countries willing to arrange the IJSO can be compiled. A country that refuses to commit to organize the competition may be barred from participation, even if delegations from that country have taken part in previous competitions. In the event of the IJSO being cancelled all participating countries including those countries that had agreed to send an observer will be invited to send full delegations to the resumed IJSO. FINANCIAL MATTERS The financial management of the IJSO is as follows: The host country covers all costs from the arrival at the location of the IJSO until departure of the delegations. This includes the costs of
The Country coordinator must insure that the government/sponsors cover the cost for the delegation of
Twenty-five percent (25%) of the participation fee should be returned to the Treasurer of IJSO for operational costs of IJSO Organization. The Financial status of IJSO will be reported by the treasurer every year at the International Board Meeting and is subject to be audited by the Internal IJSO?s Auditors. All cost incurred for creating problems (theory and experiment) for IJSO is the responsibility of the host country. HOSTING THE IJSO The host country must ensure or prove that
Next and next of the Next Hosting Countries
PRESIDENT
VICE PRESIDENTS
Changes to the statutes can only be made at an IB meeting, chaired by the President and called specifically for that purpose. IB members must receive the proposed changes in writing at least one month before the meeting. In the event of the IJSO not taking place or in danger of not taking place in any year, the IJSO President has the authority to invite the IB of the previous year to remain in office and manage the affairs of the IJSO with the secretariat until a new host country accepted. Where the president/vice president is also a citizen of the host country he/she has the authority to and must
The President/vice president has the authority to appoint the Scientific Committee (SC) in order to guarantee the above mentioned four points. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The long-term work of the IJSO is co-ordinate by a Secretariat for the IJSO. This Executive Committee (EC) consists of the President, Vice Presidents, Secretaries, Treasurer, and Public Relations Officer. The IB elects the secretariat for a period of five years. Members may be elected for two consecutive terms only. Vacancies occurring within the five year period will be filled by the IB to complete the term. The members serve in a voluntary capacity and will not receive a stipend. The Executive Committee (EC) also automatically acts as the Country Coordinator for their countries. ORGANIZING COMMITTEES The Organizing Committee of the IJSO must be completely independent and separate from the Local Organizing Committee responsible for the selection and training etc of the Host Country Team. The appropriate Governmental Department or Institution(s) of one of the participating countries on whose territory the competition is to be conducted appoints the International Junior Science Olympiad Organizing Committee (OC) to run the IJSO on behalf of the host country. The OC should produce a set of "Organization Rules" based on the statutes. These must be sent to the delegation leaders of the participating countries in good time. These organization rules shall give details of the IJSO not covered in the statutes including the names and addresses of the institutions and persons responsible for the IJSO. The OC shall provide a detailed program for the competition including schedule, program of excursions, etc, which is sent to the delegation leaders in advance of the IJSO. The OC is obliged to publish the IJSO proceedings in English. Each participant should receive one copy of the proceedings free of charge not later than one year after the competition. SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE The OC appoints a Scientific Committee (SC) to manage all the scientific aspects of the IJSO. The SC will provide three tasks, solutions and a grading scheme. The topics for the competition must correspond as far as possible with the science syllabi for fifteen-year-old students in the participating countries (IB Syllabus).
Questions for Task One should include Physics (10 problems), Biology (10 Problems) and Chemistry (10 problems). Task Two should be more complex involving a combination of Physics, Chemistry and Biology.Question for Task Three should be the combination of Physics, Chemistry and Biology and should be in equal proportion. The Scientific Committee (SC) has to prepare at least 6 (six) spare problems for task one (two problems for each subject), and one spare problem for task two. These spare problems which will be presented to the International Board if some of the originally presented thirty problems for task one or one of the two or three problems for task two is/are rejected by two thirds of the International Board members. The rejected problem(s) can not be reconsidered. The Task should include all subjects at the IJSO Syllabus. The SC is responsible for the grading the problem solutions and for organizing and carrying out the moderation process. Each participating country may submit six multiple choice problem ( two for each subject: Physics, Chemistry and Biology) for task one, one theoretical problem for each subject for task two, and one experimental problem for task three to the OC of IJSO. The complete solution of each problem must also be submitted. INTERNATIONAL BOARD The International Board (IB) is composed of the Executive Committee and the Country Coordinators of the participating countries and is the decision making body and final arbitrator of the IJSO. Decisions of the IB are taken on the basis of a simple majority (unless otherwise stated in the statutes) in the presence of at least 75% of members and are final. Each country has one vote. In the case of equal votes, the president has a casting vote and takes the final decision. The President shall chair the meeting. His duties include:
MEMBERS One of the team leaders will serve as the International Board (IB) Member of IJSO and serve as a Country Coordinator until the next IJSO. IB Member for the new countries joining IJSO, must be belong to or have a strong support from Government, Institution/University, or well known organization/association. Duties:
The IB approves
NATIONAL DELEGATION Each participating country that has either participated fully in or sent an observer to the IJSO in one of the previous two years is invited to send a delegation of six students and three team leaders. One team leader is acting as the country coordinator. Each Participating country is requested to bring their National Flag to be used during the IJSO?s event. The Hosting country has the right to have two National Delegations. OBLIGATIONS
STUDENTS
COUNTRY COORDINATOR The country coordinator is the contact person in each participating IJSO country and must insure that
TEAM LEADERS
The IB will disqualify those contestants who do not meet the IJSO conditions. The delegation leader must ensure that all delegation member details are in accordance with the rules of the IJSO and have been accepted by the OC prior to arrival at the IJSO. The delegation leader must cover the costs incurred by a disqualified contestant or contestants where the OC has not accepted the contestant or contestants. OBSERVERS Observer/s are those people who come to observe the ongoing IJSO that are not sending a delegation, or people from next or next after next Host Countries that are accompanying their team leaders. An Observer from a country that has not taken part in the IJSO in one of the previous two years may attend the IJSO. A Country that has not participated previously must send an Observer for one year prior to full participation. A country that is sending a delegation may bring one extra observer to help team leaders in translating the problems. An observer:
VISITORS The visitor from a participating country may attend the IJSO. The visitor:
GUEST DELEGATIONS The host country has the right to invite guest delegations, including a guest delegation from the host country. Guest delegation leaders are not voting members of the IB but their duties are the same as other delegation leaders in all other respects. The guest delegation from other countries pays all the expenses related to its participation determined by the host country. The next host country is not obliged to invite the guest delegation from the previous competition. Countries present with guest delegations only are not obliged to organize the IJSO in the future. Competitors from the guest delegations are classified in the same way as the regular delegations. They may receive medals, awards, diplomas and prizes but their names should be associated with the letter "G" (Guest) in all official documents. The medals, awards, diplomas and prizes awarded to the guest teams are in addition to the 60% allocated awards. THE COMPETITION The competition is divided into three tasks, prepared by the SC and conducted over three days with an interval of at least one day between each task. The time allotted to each task should normally be three to four hours. The OC decide the sequence of the competition days. Problems
Problems Discussion
Problems Translation
Moderation
When solving the problems the contestants may make use of mathematical tables, tables of physical constants, the periodic table of elements, non-programmable pocket calculators and drawing material. These aids will be brought by the students themselves. Collections of formulae from mathematics, chemistry, physics etc. are not allowed. The host country has to prepare at least six spare MCQ problems and one spare theoretical problem. These spare problems will be presented to the IB if any of the originally presented test problems are rejected by two thirds of the IB present. The rejected problem(s) cannot be reconsidered. The maximum points allocated to the tasks are:
Questions for Task One should include pure Physics (10 problems), Biology (10 Problems) and Chemistry (10 problems). The correct answer will be marked 1 (one), the wrong answer will get penalty 0.25 (zero point twenty five), and zero marks for not answering. Task Two should be more complex involving a combination of Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Question for Task Three should be the combination of Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Task one and two are an individual competition. However task three is a team competition, where one team consists of three students of each delegation (each country may have two teams for task three). Each member of the team for task three will be awarded the same points as the point that his/her team obtain. The team leader/s is obliged to state clearly the names of his/her students as team A or Team B. However, the names on each team may be changed (reshuffled) ONLY on the arrival date. No more changes can be made afterwards. Allocating the medal recipients is based on individual total points; the points allocated to task three are added to the points allocated to tasks one and two.In deciding on the best theoretical winner, only results of the task one and task two are added. In deciding for the medal recipients is based on individual total points, the points allocated to task three are added to the points allocated to tasks one and two. In deciding of the country winner, the total points obtained by the delegation will be counted as the following: Gold medal will be given 3 points, silver medal is given 2 points, and bronze medal is given 1 point. However, any additional medals (e.g. from best task three will not be considered for the allocation of the country winner) The over all winner is the student who has the highest individual total points (the total of task one, two and three). For the discussion of medal recipients and other awards at the IB meeting, the student results must be shown with a factor number that only known by Chairman of SC (the real results will not be shown). No students results will be released to the public, until the medals and other awards are presented at the closing ceremony of IJSO. AWARDS All delegation members who do not obtain any medals will receive a certificate of participation. The students who obtain medal/s will also receive a certificate/s that clearly mentioning the medal/s that he/she receives. The top teams and students will receive medals, awards in accordance with the number of points accumulated as follows: For Individual competition: Gold medals : top 10% of all participating delegations. For Team (experimental) competition: Gold medals : 1st Highest point of the team The number of medals must not exceed 60% of all the participants. The winner for Team (experimental) competition, medal will be awarded to each member of the winning team. Special Prizes and Certificate will be awarded to:
The Certificate must be printed with the Official Logo of IJSO and may be with the logo of the on-going IJSO. The Certificate must also be signed by the President and the Chairman of the on-going IJSO Organizing Committee. A perpetual challenge Trophy will be awarded to the country who achieved the highest accumulated score of all six students and is called as THE COUNTRY WINNER. The IJSO trophy will not be permanently belong to the winner, however to be returned to the President of IJSO at the opening ceremony of the next IJSO and will be awarded to the next winning team. Additional Special prizes can be awarded at the discretion of the host country. HONORARY MEMBERS The IB may award some person or persons with the title "Honorary Member of the International Junior Science Olympiad (HMIJSO)" for special service to the IJSO. They may be invited to each IJSO. The payment of all expenses of the HMIJSO is at the discretion of the host country. The Past Presidents of IJSO is automatically become the member of HMIJSO. NEW PARTICIPANTS After IJSO reaching fifty member countries, then countries who want to joint the IJSO that has never been participating before, has to start as an observer at least once. PARTICIPATING IJSO Participation in the International Junior Science Olympiad signifies acceptance of the present Statutes by the Relevant Ministry of the participating country. ORIGINALITY The original of these Statutes are written in English. EFFECTIVITY This statue is immediately effective after it is revised at the 4th IJSO International Board Meeting in Taipei-Taiwan on December 10th, 2007. Therefore, the previous IJSO Statue is no longer valid. |