Kazan University and Microsoft to expand cooperation in education and healthcare

A video conference was held on 23 September.

Head of Cooperation with Educational and Research Organizations at Microsoft Russia Yelena Slivko-Kolchik said, in particular, “We are paying immense attention to our cooperation with KFU. We are willing to continue this efficient work.”

Vice-Rector for International Cooperation Timirkhan Alishev thanked the company for supporting distance learning this year. He noted that prospective areas for cooperation are teacher education, digital competences for educators, student involvement during distance learning, and others. He reminded that Microsoft’s conferencing tool Teams served as a platform for KFU’s International Forum on Teacher Education, which comprised 26 thousand contributors and viewers in 30 countries. Ms. Slivko-Kolchik expressed gratitude to the University for arranging such a large-scale event on the platform, which was the first such case in Russia.

Director of the Center for Precision and Regenerative Medicine Albert Rizvanov touched on biomedical research at KFU and offered to introduce digital medicine tech into its activities.

Head of KFU’s Center for Digital Transformation Dmitry Chikrin spoke about existing digital medicine projects and digital education. Director of the Department for Cooperation with Public and Social Institutions at Microsoft Russia Alexander Krasnov opined that the mentioned projects are undoubtedly in line with the software giant’s priorities.

First Vice-Rector Riyaz Minzaripov emphasized that the University cherishes the partnership that the two sides have established. It’s now been 15 years of such cooperation, and it has significantly expanded in light of the COVID-19 restrictions, when Microsoft Teams turned out to be an indispensable tool for online conferencing and teaching.

There is a plan to establish a Microsoft Center for Competences at KFU, shared Deputy Head of the Engineering Center for Telecom and Information Systems Sultan Nurutdinov.

The sides plan to prepare a new cooperation agreement in the coming months, which may include, among other points, possible joint postgraduate programs.

Source text: Alina Minnevalieva

Photo: Nikita Tokhtasinov

Translation: Yury Nurmeev