By Kang Shin-who
Staff reporter
An international biology event has brought together gifted youngsters from around the world to Korea. The International Biology Olympiad (IBO) will be held at Changwon National University in Changwon City, the capital of South Gyeongsang Province for eight days from July 11 through 18. The international biology competition, marking its 21st year, will host some 800 secondary school students and organization committee members as well as operational staff.
The IBO has been co-organized by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology along with the Korea Society of Biology Education and the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity.
Ahn Byong-man, the minister of education, science and technology, stressed the importance of science capacity for the future of the country, while welcoming the distinguished students.
"As you are well aware, the advancement of science and technology is the source of a nation's competitiveness. So, it is crucial to identify and nurture qualified youngsters with passion and potential in science at the national level.
"As all of you present here have great potential to become excellent scientists in the future, your countries have high expectations of you," Ahn said in his welcoming address.
"May the International Biology Olympiad grow into a science festival for promising students in biology to compete and promote friendship," he added.
The international event was first held in 1990 in Czechoslovakia with the aim of testing young students' skills in solving biological problems, and dealing with life-science experiments. At the time, only six European countries participated, but the number of participants has continued to rise; to 60 worldwide, this year.
Each country sends four students, who are usually winners of domestic competitions.
The competition consists of two parts; theoretical and experimental examinations, and participating students deal with a variety of ecology issues such as importance of environmental protection and nature preservation for 4 to 6 hours of each session, which are run in English. There is a one-day interval between the two examinations.
According to IBO regulations, a chairperson of the international jury, consisting of two representatives of delegations from each country, directs the sessions. Each country has one vote and they take account into knowledge of biology and the skills of the participants as well as evaluating their capacity to think independently and creatively.
Gold medals will be given to less than 10 percent of the number of total competitors, while those for silver medals and bronze medals will be limited to 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively. Other special prizes are available.
The organizing committee of the IBO 2010 sees the event as a very meaningful development for biology and science education as participating countries can compare their respective syllabuses and educational trends.
"It is a festival of biology studies for the world's youngsters. The event helps encourage many talented students to enter the science and engineering field," the committee said. "It is also a good opportunity for the hosting country, Korea, to introduce its quality education system to the invited students and jurists."
The committee, headed by Lee Kil-jae, biology professor at Korea National University of Education, was formed in 2008.
Korea participated in the international event for the first time in 1998 in Germany and achieved a gold and three silver medals placing it in fourth place.
Korea has continued to send delegate to the event since then and won the championship of the competition for three consecutive years from 2000 to 2002. Last year, the Korean delegation ranked sixth with a gold and three silver medals.
The participants will have opportunities to experience Korean culture such as samulnori, a traditional percussion music performance, taekwondo and making Korean ceramics.
Also, they are scheduled to visit Gyeongju, a major cultural city in North Gyeongsang Province; Tongdo Temple, the head temple of the Jogye Order located in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province; Goseong where fossilized dinosaur footprints were found; and nearby Geoje Island.