Second Meeting of the International Advisory Board of the Higher School of Business

The Board convened on November 27th with Rector Ilshat Gafurov's participation.

The Rector thanked the Board members for their active involvement and spoke about KFU's latest achievements, noting that the University managed to place 176th – 200th in the very competitive Business & Economics category of Times Higher Education rankings.

Director of the HSB Alsu Akhmetshina reported that MBA and DBA programs are seeing increasing enrolment numbers. There are over 420 students, with more than half of them self-funded.

“The enrollees study our academic staff, and they see the quality, the accreditation and a real effect from a cost-results standpoint. More than 30% of the latest batch are from regions other than Tatarstan,” she said. The School received AMBA accreditation in 2015, becoming the first such entity in the country outside Moscow and Saint-Petersburg. So far, 715 qualified managers have left its walls with new diplomas in advanced business programs.

The School can and should house more students, said Chairman of the Board of Trustees Valery Sorokin. To this, Rector Gafurov announced plans to build a new facility adjacent to the existing one. Funds will be raised soon, with various types of financing under discussion.

Member of the Board, Professor Park Song Joo presented his views on fundraising. He also opined that the School's academic staff is absolutely up to the task when it comes to international MBA/DBA standards.

Valery Sorokin added on the question of new types of online instruction, “We need a system which can give a real-time overview of where the society is going, give an opportunity to socialize with experts who make recommendations. All companies do this in one way or another. If we can create such an opportunity here, then we can streamline an influx of listeners. I think this may be a long-term project.”

Mr. Park cautioned against lowering the level of programs through their mass distribution. He referred to global trends which show that online programs have low output. So he offered to complement on-site courses with online modules, not to make the latter a separate item.

Among other topics, corporate culture and alumni links were discussed.  The trustees also didn't miss out on a chance to wish Director Akhmetshina a happy birthday.