The Presidential Council held its inaugural discussion at Kazan National Research Technical University.
The invited guests toured KNRTU's Main Building before gathering in the briefing room. Among the showcased facilities was a quantum network, a digital economy center, and a machine tool industry center, as the meeting itself was dedicated to the cooperation between the universities and industrial enterprises of the region.
President Rustam Minnikhanov opened the meeting by noting, «During this gathering we have to discuss cooperation projects between industrial companies and universities. The main drivers are our Federal University and two research universities. We set the mission of the modernization of our Republic for the academic community».
Rector of KFU Ilshat Gafurov attracted the listeners' attention to the fact that there are 120 scientific institutions in Kazan but emphasized that one must not stop at what has been achieved. The situation with the republican universities and research organization is such that they are not really allowed to reach across the regional borders, although Tatarstan tries to insert itself in the mix at the global market.
“Unfortunately, despite some governmental measures, our higher education still lives in the 20th century-type industrial culture, and most of the institutions work exclusively as educational entities. That’s why often the same questions arise during meetings with industrial partners: for whom and in what way do we teach people, and how good the specialists who come from our universities really are? In this context leading companies inevitably and swiftly move forward, whereas the universities with their orientation towards stable processes are a priori in the pursuing position. In these conditions – and figuring in the number of regulations and limitations – the teaching is following the requirements of not just yesterday but the day before. This keeping in mind that the best global universities have long been autonomous in determining their policy and teaching for the economy and industry of the future”, he said.
He also touched on the global rankings and how every major Tatarstani university could enter at least one subject ranking. As he mentioned, there are 16 such universities in Moscow and 5 – in Saint-Petersburg, 2 in Tomsk, but only 1 each in Kazan, Yekaterinburg, and Nizhny Novgorod.
Dr. Gafurov suggested IT, medicine and pharmacy, and agricultural technology as the priority areas for the regional higher education institutions.
The meeting ended with the understanding that it's high time for the local universities to advance on the global market and outline their priorities considering global trends. The University 3.0 concept (education-science-technology) can become the goal for all local institutions and not just KFU.
The President gave more than a dozen instructions to start implementing the voiced proposals. The next Council meetings are supposed to be more thematically focused.