The meeting was held at Kazan University and tackled issues of employment, research, and national priorities.

Rector Ilshat Gafurov congratulated the participants and petitioned the President to officially declare this day as the Day of Scientists and Higher Education Workers. He went on by presenting the results of 2018, “The year 2018 was special for us. In pursuance of the President of Russia’s decrees, a number of national projects pertaining to us were adopted. Among other things, there is an objective to enter the top five research nations in the world in relevant subject areas.”

President Rustam Minnikhanov noted the potential of technologies that he had seen earlier today at an exhibition, “Tatarstan has actively joined the implementation of national projects. Today, we have seen that our scientists can be competitive and can advance their research abroad. This opens huge opportunities.”

Tatarstan has become one of the top regions in attracting international enrollees. KFU alone currently welcomes 7,155 foreign citizens from 98 countries, which makes our university the second in Russia in this metric.

Representatives of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Tatarstan Academy of Sciences also partook in the proceedings. President of TAS Myakzyum Salakhov opined, “We can undertake national-level projects if scientists enjoy unequivocal social trust and support. I am pleased to remind that important discoveries have been made at Kazan University – Lobachevskian geometry, ruthenium, electron paramagnetic resonance, and theory of chemical composition.”

In conclusion, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia Marina Borovskaya said, “Students of higher education are ready to work on technology transfer and industrial cooperation. National projects are aimed at exactly that. Education quality depends on many things – exam results, programs, and teaching approaches. Unifying our efforts, we must now solve problems of graduate employment.”

Source text: Adelya Shemelova

Photos: Nikita Tokhtasinov

Translation: Yury Nurmeev