Dear participants of the VI International Forum on Teacher Education – virtualIFTE- 2020!
At such a difficult time, we are pleased to continue our scientific work and gather scientists from around the world on the virtual platform of Kazan Federal University. We understand that for many of us this format is unusual, however, we are convinced that even such serious crises should not separate researchers representing Russian and foreign universities in solving the problem of improving the teacher training quality. In order not to endanger you in view of the aggravated epidemiological situation in the world, IFTE-2020 is organized in a virtual format from May 27 to June 9, 2020.
The capabilities of Kazan Federal University will allow Russian and foreign participants to successfully present and discuss the results of scientific research of Teacher Education remotely. For more than 900 participants from 30 countries the main virtualIFTE-2020 formats will be video lectures by key speakers, synchronous virtual round tables, international online symposia, research groups meetings, asynchronous scientific sections, poster presentations implemented through Adobe Connect, Microsoft Teams webinar systems, the official website of the Forum, the “Lomonosov” platform, the virtualIFTE-2020 official YouTube channel.
Kazan Federal University is one of the oldest higher educational institutions in Russia, which is celebrating its 216th anniversary this year. We are proud of the fact that our University has given the world such luminaries of science as Nikolai Lobachevsky, Karl Klaus, Alexander Butlerov and many others. The main priorities for us today are the training of highly qualified specialists and the transformation of Kazan Federal University into one of the world centers of fundamental and applied science.
Teacher Education at Kazan Federal University also has deep historical roots. It originated in 1812 and continues to develop by this day. The system of Teacher Education at KFU is one of the largest in modern Russia. Thanks to the developed international activity, publication activity, we are able to consistently increase the level of the academic reputation of KFU. The 94th position of the “Education” subject field in the Ranking of the best universities in the world, Times Higher Education, in 2020, is vivid evidence of this. This is the best indicator not only in Russia but also in the countries of Eastern Europe and the CIS.
We hope that the virtual IFTE-2020 format will boost the development of pedagogical science and the digital conference space of the Forum will become a unique platform for the effective exchange of experience in new developments and achievements in the field of educational technologies, and will strengthen cooperation between Russian and foreign researchers. There is no doubt that the success of virtualIFTE-2020 will depend on our joint efforts, the common desire for academic interaction in new conditions.
IFTE President, Organising Committee Chairman
Ilshat Gafurov
Doctor of Economics, Professor, Member of the Russian Academy of Education KFU Rector