Financing of the IChO
In the first years of the IChO all expenses connected with the organization of the competition were paid by the organizer. Even pocket money was given both to the mentors and the competing students. It is strange but the pocket money is not mentioned in the earlier issues of the statues or IChO regulations. This pocket money was introduced at the beginning of the IChOs for reasons of convertibility of east and west currencies. Later more and more contributions appeared in the jury discussions that were in favor of an introduction of any participation fee. After 25 years of the existence of the IChO several new countries showed the interest to participate in this competition and the number of participants was growing. Naturally, the expenses were growing, too. Many countries show interest just to participate but not to organize the IChO.
Starting from the year 1997 (29th IChO, Canada) the organizers decided not to supply pocket money to the students and mentors. From the year 1998 the participation fee of participating countries was introduced and calculated according to the formula: 100´N (US dollars), where N is the number of years of participation of a country or the number of years since the country last hosted an International Chemistry Olympiad.
Compiled and edited by A. Sirota (IChO Intern. Information Centre)
