UNESCO Chair in Eurasian Studies, Cultural Diversity and Cultural Policies

Kazan University carefully preserves the 200-year old traditions of its world-renowned research schools and its centuries-old reputation for outstanding academic achievement and innovation. Through a rich interdisciplinary curriculum, the university encourages its students to become creative and independent thinkers, lifetime learners, and active participants in society. The university emphasizes respect for, and sensitivity to, differences among people and ideas

• to promote an integrated system of research, training, information and documentation in the fields of Eurasian studies, cultural diversity and cultural policies, focusing on sociology, history, political science, culture and media. It will serve as a means of facilitating collaboration between high-level, internationally recognized researchers and teaching staff of the University and other institutions in the Russian Federation, Central Asia, and Europe.
• The primary objective of its activities shall be:
• to contribute to the overall development of internationalization, innovation and interdisciplinary integration in post-soviet higher education in the area of Eurasian studies, leading to the creation of a new postgraduate school based on the state-of-the-art research closely linked with new content and methods of teaching. This meets the major global, national and regional needs of development of marked economy and democratic participation, taking into account the need to preserve, enrich and share historical heritage and contemporary cultural practices.
• The specific objectives of its activities are:
• To upgrade the existing curricula in the areas of sociology, journalism, history, political sciences, ethnology and cultural studies.To intensify inter-faculty integration and introduction of the international standards declared by the Bologna process documents in the areas corresponding to the UNESCO mission, concerning the development of practices for lifelong learning;
• To develop new methods of university management, organizational culture to include self-funding strategies and fundraising mechanisms;To intensify research in the field of social and cultural studies through networking.