[7] Current research priorities are biomedicine, materials science, hydrocarbon industry, new energy sources, IT and cyber-physical systems, and comprehensive development of human potential.

[citation needed] Among the university students and alumni there are the founder of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin, writers Sergei Aksakov, Leo Tolstoy, Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky, Velimir Khlebnikov, composer Mily Balakirev, and painter Valery Yakobi.

[citation needed] Magnitsky was consequently appointed trustee of the Kazan school district, an action that negatively affected the university, with many professors being dismissed and 'harmful' books withdrawn from the library's collection.

In 1819–1821 an alumnus and scholar of Kazan University Ivan Simonov participated in the discovery of Antarctica during the first round-the-world expedition and pioneered Antarctic studies.

[citation needed] Around that time Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin), a future leader of the Soviet Union, studied law at the university from August 1887 until his expulsion due to 'student disturbances' in December 1887.

[9] The university faced one of its greatest challenges during the Russian Civil War, when in August–September 1918 the siege and ultimate capture of Kazan by the Red Army and Czechoslovak Corps led to a large exodus of students and faculty members from the city.

[citation needed] Though approval was given in the Imperial period for Women to audit university lectures from 1859,[10] the Higher Courses were not state funded and required local support, carrying high tuition fees.

[11] In 1876, the imperial government, hoping to secure more qualified teachers, authorized creation of Higher Women's Courses in all cities in the empire which had a university.

[12] From October 1876, female applicants who had completed a girls' gymnasium;[11] were certified instructors in arithmetic, history and Russian language;[13] or passed an entrance examination could enroll in evening classes at Kazan University.

[13] The first Latvian to earn a degree in Folkloric Studies, Anna Bērzkalne, graduated as a Candidate of Philology from the Kazan Higher Women's Courses in 1917.

[14][15] In accordance with a directive from the Council of People's Commissars issued on October 9, 1918, the system of academic ranks was abolished and all university-level lecturers with at least three years of teaching experience were qualifying for the title of professor.

This allowed the University of Kazan, which had lost the vast majority of its academic staff during the turmoil of the civil war, to restart proper education and research.

In 2013 Kazan Federal University launched the Programme for enhancing its competitive ranking among leading world centres of higher education and research (2013–20) in the framework of implementation of the Government Resolution No.

The Main Building Yard now contains the central administrative offices, the Anatomical Theatre, the Library, chemistry and physics laboratories, and the Observatory.

[31] By President Boris Yeltsin’s Decree in 1996, the Architectural Complex of Kazan University was added to the National Cultural Heritage Register of Russia.

[40] Each year, more than 900 students and faculty members of KFU visited foreign universities and research centres for various purposes, including international conferences.

Native speaking specialists teach Chinese, Korean, Farsi, German, Spanish, English and other foreign languages on a regular basis at KFU.

[43][44] Among the honorary doctors and professors of KFU[40] there are Vladimir Minkin, Alexei Starobinsky, Ichak Kalderon Adizes, Rashid Sunyaev, Anatole Abragam, Karl Alexander Müller, Brebis Bleaney, Ryoji Noyori, Mikhail Piotrovsky, Vitaly Ginzburg,[45] and other scientists and Nobel prizers.

Every year KFU academic staff carried out on average 40 joint international projects and got individual support for research and study from DAAD, DFG, Volkswagen Foundation, NSF, European Commission (Tempus, FP7, Marie-Curie Actions, Erasmus-Mundus, etc.)

The university administration and faculty have paid special attention to the European Tempus and Erasmus scheme for cooperation, with over a dozen large-scale projects which have been successfully implemented during the last 20 years.

Today KFU students and academic staff enjoyed wonderful opportunities of training at best European universities as part of both "Integration, Interaction and Institutions (Triple I)"[48] and "Aurora"[49] projects (Erasmus Mundus program[50]).

[52] Sergey Aksakov, Vladimir Lenin (expelled), Leon Litinetsky, Alexei Rykov, Xösäyen Yamaşev, Sergei Bakinsky, Vasili Osipanov, Nikolai Semashko, Dmitry Karakozov, Nikolay Fyodorov.

Aleksandr Arbuzov, Nikolai Chebotaryov, Aleksandr Butlerov, Naum Meiman, Kimal Akishev, Nikolay Lobachevski, Ivan Simonov, Vladimir Markovnikov, Konstantin Mereschkowski, Nikolay Beketov, Nikolay Zinin, Alexander Zaytsev, Sergey Reformatsky, Alexander Vishnevsky, Liverij Darkshevich, Platon Poretsky, Nikolai Brashman, Karl Ernst Claus, Joseph Johann Littrow, Johann Bartels, Adolph Theodor Kupffer, Marian Kowalski, Aleksandr Kotelnikov, Mikhail Lavrentyev, Yevgeny Zavoisky, Roald Sagdeev, Vladimir Engelgardt, Alexander Luria, Dmitry Dubyago, Alexander Dubyago, Georgii Frederiks, Semen Altshuler, Mikhail Lyapunov, Dmitrii Sintsov, Oskar Anderson, Wilhelm Anderson, Kadir Timergazin, Vladimir Moskovkin, Emmanuel Rashba.

Mily Balakirev, Stanislav Govorukhin, Ilya Ulyanov, Stepan Smolensky, Karl Fuchs, Michael Minsky (Spirin), Yuliya Zaripova, Oleg Saitov.

Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky, Velimir Khlebnikov, Pyotr Boborykin, Eugenia Ginzburg, Leo Tolstoy, Daniil Mordovtsev, Alexander Tarasov-Rodionov.