The meeting on March 14th was a follow-up to recent negotiations.

The two visitors this time were Head of Policy and Communications EMEA Christopher Burghardt and General Manager of Uber Russia Dmitri Izmailov.

Rector Ilshat Gafurov started by praising Uber as an example of a highly innovative company. The University, despite being a much older entity, tries to keep pace in innovation, as evidenced, for instance, by the University Clinic. The Clinic came up in direct association with the agenda of the day.

The Rector said, “Nowadays people move to the Clinic by their own means, and some patients need house visits by the staff. For this we use our own automobiles, be it ambulance or other special vehicles. However, during the cold season we have to hire additional transport. Some of the patients use their own transport to arrive, queues pile up, and some unnecessary tension arises. We’d like to connect patients and doctors at the right time, and this process can be optimized with your help”.

Thus, Uber may become a partner of the KFU medical cluster and organize vehicle management. The aim is to minimize queues and create comfortable conditions for patient-doctor interaction. As an idea, special tariffs can be introduced for home-to-clinic rides .

Furthermore, the University is also interested in exchanging experience with Uber and creating opportunities for young graduates to find jobs there.

“We are a big university that graduates professionals in various fields; we have three IT faculties, and we would be glad if you could assist in generating new curricula”, said Dr. Gafurov.

We can say that educational cooperation started later today when Mr. Burghardt gave an open lecture about Uber’s history and technological solutions.