The day before the conference, on June 13th, Rector Ilshat Gafurov met with Association of MBAs Chief Executive Andrew Main Wilson. The parties discussed the future of the Higher School of Business (HSB), the only such institution in Russia outside of Moscow and Saint-Petersburg to be accredited by AMBA.

The Rector shared his vision of entrepreneurial education at Kazan Federal University. He said that such modules are included in all majors at the University. It is the University’s aim to promote the entrepreneurial spirit among students, and even if only one or two percent of them try their best in business, that’s enough, he added. Andrew Wilson opined that this is the approach shared by leading global educational institutions.

Today, Rector Gafurov opened the conference by saying, “This important event is very pertinent for the ongoing discussion about our strategy of higher education development. We aspire to instill entrepreneurial thinking as a part of our corporate culture.”

President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov in his welcome speech noted, “I am glad to see representatives of the leading educational and research centers of the world. This conference aims to find new ways of constructive cooperation and development.”

Among the contributors were Andrew Wilson, President of Russian Association for Business Education Sergey Myasoyedov, HSB Advisory Board members Park Sung-Joo and Tim Mescon, and others.