About IOAA » Statutes
Statutes
The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics is regulated by the Statutes, which all participants must agree to abide by. The Statutes may (and have been) modified by majority vote of the International Board, to respond to changing circumstances and to better serve the aims of the IOAA.
The current version of the statutes, which is binding for the 5th IOAA, is available for download below. All team leaders, and especially the leaders of new teams, are strongly encouraged to read them before attending the IOAA.
In addition to the statutes, during the International Board Meeting held in Beijing, China, on 17th September 2010, the International Board agreed to the following propositions, designed to clarify and put in writing earlier decisions made by the Board. Representatives from each country attending the IOAA signed a copy of the proposals; the signed copy is kept by the President of the IOAA. New teams are strongly encouraged to read this as well.
One of the things agreed by the International Board in Beijing in 2010 was that, for the group competition, small teams which would otherwise not be able to compete (the group competition requires three or more contestants - see statute #12) may combine if the students concerned all agree. This occurred during the 4th IOAA in China, when the Czech and Slovak teams combined to compete in the group competition, and during the 5th IOAA in Poland, where teams from Columbia, Portugal, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Russia combined. This decision established a precedent, which will be followed in the future.