Minister of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov: 'This is the first time that we establish a teaching clinic in a federal university'

The meeting of the Supervisory Board took place yesterday, April 28th, at 8 p.m.

The Board has various powers pertaining to the University's strategy, property management, financial supervision.

The election of the Chairman was the first order of business. This post was assigned to Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation Nikolay Nikiforov who is currently one of the best-known alumni of Kazan University.

The establishment of the University's academic clinic was one of the main items on the agenda. The preparation has taken place for a long time now, and the decision was finally made yesterday.

Rector Ilshat Gafurov elaborated on why this step is important: "International experience clearly shows that academic hospitals are indispensable for the education in medicine and life sciences. Having an academic hospital is compulsory for all educational institutions which graduate medical doctors in Russia".

This is the first such experience for Russian federal universities, however. Tatarstan once again becomes a pioneer in testing new methods of cooperation between educational institutions, medical facilities and the society. Interim President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and Minister of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov approved the University's request to transfer 2nd Republican Clinical Hospital, 2nd Emergency Care Hospital and 2nd Kazan Municipal Clinic to the University's management structure. All their current activities in serving the general population will be carried on in full.

"We follow the process closely and understand that everything must be well thought out. This clinic will become a base for translating research into practice - which is, obviously, easier said than done. Changes in the University and in the clinic must be done in order for this to be achieved. We think that this project is very important", said Dmitry Livanov.

Rustam Minnikhanov was of the similar opinion: "Our expectations are the same. We have already made significant investments into our healthcare, the University must make a new contribution here. This must become an educational, medical and research centre with new standards of quality and new techologies".

All the procedures for the transfer started immediately after the decision was made.

The Board discussed other matters on the agenda with the focus on global competitiveness. Some corrections were made in the University's Global Competitiveness Program and its Roadmap.

The University has rapidly moved up in global rankings recently. It is now 69th among the BRICS universities according to the most recent QS rankings. The University was awarded three stars (out of five) by QS.

The University firmly established itself among the leaders in Russia in such subjects as Life Sciences and Medicine (ranked second); Engineering&Techologies and Biology (ranked fourth). The University is also among the top-5 in Russia in Chemistry, Physics and Land and Sea Sciences.