Evgeny Kuyvashev: UrFU Gained an Impetus

14:38, December 28, 2018

The Supervisory Council summed up the results of 2018 and approved the strategy for further development

The Ural Federal University demonstrates steady development and a noticeable increase in key performance indicators at the year-end. This was stated by the members of the UrFU Supervisory Council at the final meeting this year. In particular, according to the results of the admission campaign, 11,000 freshmen had enrolled in the Ural Federal University. They scored 75 on average in the Unified State Examination. More than 3,100 foreign students from 84 countries are studying at the university, which is about 10% of the total number of students.

The number of scientific publications is growing. UrFU scientists, according to mid-December reports, published 5,389 articles, 2,089 of them were indexed in the Scopus databases, 1,577 in the Web of Science databases. At the end of 2018, the volume of R&D will exceed 2 billion rubles.

Speaking about the promising projects of UrFU, the Supervisory Council members particularly emphasized the launch of the cyclotron center for nuclear medicine. A new cyclotron is already in operation, and now the center is being actively upgraded.

‘The only thing left to do is to finish the radiochemical complex assembling, and by March we plan to establish reliable supplies of radioisotopes for the diagnosis of oncological diseases,’ Victor Koksharov, UrFU Rector, says. ‘Our partner, PET-Technology, which already has one nuclear medicine center in Ekaterinburg, is ready to equip another center for patients who need our isotopes. In the future, together with Rosatom and the pharmaceutical company Pharmstandard, we plan to open a clinic for the treatment of the patients. In the future, the cyclotron center will also produce isotopes for the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases.’

Evgeny Kuyvashev, the UrFU Supervisory Board member, the Governor of the Sverdlovsk region, said that the region’s administration is willing to support UrFU’ participation in the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia’ competition for the creation of a research and education center (REC) and a world-class research center:

‘UrFU has recently received a powerful impetus for development. […] We approved 50 regional subprojects in the Sverdlovsk region. And I believe that in order to actively integrate the university into the implementation of these projects, UrFU Rector Victor Koksharov should speak at one of the first meetings in the government of the Sverdlovsk region in 2019. […] We are interested in the development of UrFU. This is a good university, the major one for our region, which is a serious competitive advantage over other regions of the country, therefore, of course, we will do everything to develop these advantages.’

Mind you, the decision to create a REC and a world-class research center will be made in the early 2019.