Vladimir Putin takes part in video-conference with leading Russian universities at the Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology of Kazan Federal University

On January 25, during his working trip to Kazan, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology of Kazan Federal University, where he learned about the work of the simulation-training centre and the engineering centre to design simulators.

Putin was accompanied by Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to Volga Federal District Mikhail Babich, Aide to the Russian President Andrey Fursenko, Rector of the Kazan Federal University Ilshat Gafurov and other officials.

The President paid special attention to the simulator in the operating room, where the team of doctors from surgeons to anesthesiologists and medical personnel master their skills on robots, as well as to the simulator of endoscopic interventions, resuscitation simulators and robots for mastering pediatric practices.

Later on the same day, Putin held a video conference organized in Kazan with the country’s top federal universities from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Stavropol, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol, Arkhangelsk and other cities to discuss the academic mobility, employment of graduates and other aspects of student life in Russia.

Opening the meeting with students, Putin congratulated them once again on the Students Day, mentioning 10 federal universities of the country, including Siberian (Krasnoyarsk), Southern (Rostov-on-Don), Northern or Arctic (Arkhangelsk), Kazan (Volga Region), Urals (Yekaterinburg), Far Eastern (Vladivostok), Northeastern (Yakutsk), Baltic (Kaliningrad), North Caucasus (Stavropol), and Crimean (Simferopol). 

All our initiatives are aimed at making sure that our young people can fully realize their potential, Putin said in particular. He proposed having a discussion of the positive experience of the federal universities and the approaches that are important to apply to the entire system of higher education.

He reminded that the process of formation a network of federal universities started in 2006. These universities are designed to become the flagships of industrial, social, and technological development of entire areas of Russia, and, accordingly, entire industries; they should contribute to developing vast spaces of our country, including such strategically important ones as the Arctic, Siberia and the Russian Far East, Putin said.

According to the Russian President, significant financial resources are allocated for developing these educational centres.

Putin sited the Kazan Federal University  as one of the examples. According to him, this is one of the examples of how a university with a history can meet the challenges of the time and move forward.