The meeting with Tatarstani educational executives took place on the Knowledge Day, September 1st.

"Today we are meeting to exchange opinions and develop our own program", said Ms. Ogorodova, opening the meeting.

The conversation began with the level of school education. Deputy Head of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia noted that it is there that the future of the country is being formed. The new strategy of the Ministry, which the guest presented in Tatarstan, is tied with this understanding.

"Today's school should be a place of growth for a child. But not as before, when support was given only to those who had some talent; you need to find talents in every child ", she said.

She announced significant changes in the system of professional and higher education. Today the Ministry is developing according to the project principle, and one of the priority projects today is "Universities as Innovation Centers". It was the key topic of discussion.

"We must pay attention to the creation of scientific and innovative centers in all parts of Russia. The responsibility of universities should be that they become the drivers of the socio-economic development of their territories", said Lyudmila Ogorodova.

Furthermore, the Deputy Minister clarified that universities need to coordinate their development programs with the strategies of social and economic development of the regions. There is such a strategy in Tatarstan, developed with active participation from KFU experts.

Such centers will be opened in each region. In December, the leadership of the Ministry of Education and Science plans to report on the progress of this process to the President of Russia. To date, 130 universities have been identified which may become participants in the project, although only 30 centers will be opened.

Kazan University is able to realize this strategic goal. In his report, Rector Ilshat Gafurov explained in detail on which results and possibilities such a conclusion is based.

"I want to say that Kazan University is developing on a program basis starting since 2010. Today, a unified development strategy has been prepared that answers the questions raised at the time of the formation of the federal university, one that also solves those problems that exist in the region. At the same time, our strategy is directly linked to global challenges”, the Rector said.

He also clarified that the new goals set in the project "Universities as Innovation Centers" will also be integrated into the University’s strategy, supplementing the prospects outlined by the Development Program and Project 5-100. At the same time, the obligations for each of the projects will be fulfilled.

Separately, Rector Gafurov touched upon the university's focus on technology transfer and the special transfer platforms established for this purpose. In particular, today Lyudmila Ogorodova was able to get acquainted with the progress of the University Clinic - a kind of "pilot production" for the Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology. The last time she was here in February 2015, when the buildings of the former 6th City Hospital had just been transferred to the University and needed repairs and refurbishment. Now, after a large-scale reconstruction, the building and the work done here can serve as an example of a successful innovative collaboration.

And this example should be followed by other higher educational institutions of Tatarstan. This was already mentioned at the first meeting of the Science and Education Council of Tatarstan in June 2017.

“There are all signs that Kazan University is a center of innovation”, said Lyudmila Ogorodova, summarizing the Rector’s speech.

Tatarstan’s universities will be working on new application for the Universities as Innovation Centers projects in the following two months.