The founding date of the university is May 14, 1814. On May 14, 2019, the oldest medical university in Russia, Kazan State Medical University, celebrated its 205th anniversary.

Kazan Medical University is a multifunctional multilevel state higher medical educational institution that meets the needs of society and the individual in higher medical education, the development of life sciences, scientific medical knowledge. The date of creation of the Kazan State Medical University (KSMU) is considered to be May 14, 1814, when the first meeting of the council of the medical department of the Imperial Kazan University took place.

By the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR dated 05.11.1930 No. 132, the educational institution receives the status of an independent institute with medical and sanitary-hygienic faculties. Later, the faculties were opened: pediatric (1932), dental (1956), pharmaceutical (1975), postgraduate education (1993), social work (1991) and management and higher nursing education (1994), for work with foreign students (2014) and biomedical (2014). Among the graduates of the Kazan Medical School are more than 30 academicians and corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Medical Sciences of Russia. April 24, 1994, Kazan State Medical Institute received university status.

Currently, Kazan State Medical University is part of the system of higher education and scientific research of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. The supreme self-government body of KSMU is the Academic Council, acting on the basis of the University Charter.KSMU carries out educational activities in accordance with the license and certificate issued by the Federal Service for Supervision of Education and Science. The quality of the programs implemented is accredited and meets the standards and criteria of social and professional accreditation, comparable with the European standards for guaranteeing the quality of education ESG-ENQA.

Kazan State Medical University occupies 49th position among Russian universities according to the data of the third international university rating “Three University Missions” Rating Review with the participation of 1200 educational institutions from 79 countries. Kazan State Medical University takes 30th position in the ranking of higher educational institutions Academic Ranking of World Universities-European Standard ARES-2019 with the participation of more than 2,000 universities from around the world. According to a rating conducted by the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation in conjunction with the Higher School of Economics GNIU in assessing the "quality of first-year students' admission," KSMU ranks 21-28 among all universities in the Russian Federation and first among universities in the Republic of Tatarstan.

According to the latest ratings of world universities from the NRA "ReTOR" website, KSMU is among the leaders in scientific and publishing activity at 35th place among all universities in the country and 3rd place among medical universities and 24th place in "Top - 38" of the best regional universities in Russia. The training of specialists at KSMU is carried out in 9 specialities at the faculties: medical, medical and preventive, dental, pediatric, social work and higher nursing education, medical and biological, for working with foreign students and the Institute of Pharmacy. In 2011, the implementation of the basic educational programs “medical biophysics” and “medical biochemistry” was launched. In 2013, the first recruitment in the direction of "nursing" was carried out.

All graduates of the university have the opportunity to undergo training in their chosen speciality at the university according to the 44 residency program, 39 - graduate school. The number of continuing professional education programs increased 1.5 times. All graduates are employed and have the necessary competencies to perform professional tasks and sustainability in the labour market.

KSMU is an open university: every fifth student is a foreign citizen, every fourth student is from the regions of Russia. The university educates citizens of 50 countries and students from more than 40 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. A medical and pharmaceutical college operates on the basis of KSMU, which provides training for specialists in secondary vocational education.KSMU is an active participant in many international projects, organizer of hundreds of international congresses and conferences, a partner of foreign universities, research centres and clinics located on the American continent, in Europe and Asia.

The student association of KSMU is a member of the International Association of Medical Students. a member of the Global Health program. Today, Kazan Medical University is the leader among Russian medical universities in the number of students who undergo practical training annually in clinics of foreign universities. KSMU is the leading scientific schools of Russia and relevant research. Under the guidance of world-famous scientists, transplantation of the heart and liver is carried out in Kazan. There are 58 scientific schools at the university: molecular genetics, molecular physiology, cell and tissue technologies, oncology, cardiovascular diseases, prophylactic environment, endocrinology, neurology and neuroscience, paediatrics, reproductive health, psychiatry and addiction, pharmacology and pharmaceutical chemistry, critical technologies in medicine. Equipped with the most modern equipment, the Central Research Laboratory is actively working, has its own stem cell Bank. The scientific and educational centres “Molecular and Cellular Medicine”, “Fundamental and Applied Neurophysiology”, “Development of New drugs and drug delivery systems. "At the university, a rating system for the activities of departments and teachers has been created and is effectively working. From the end of the XIX - the beginning of the XX centuries there are two periodical scientific and practical publications: “Neurological Bulletin” and “Kazan Medical Journal”. Since 1934, the Kazan Medic newspaper has been published at the university. Since 2011, the student journal Doctor + has been published, and since 2012, the Bulletin of Contemporary Clinical Medicine.

Kazan State Medical University leads the scientific and educational cluster (Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan dated July 6, 2011 No. 546 “On creating a scientific and educational cluster of the state educational institution of higher education“ Kazan State Medical University of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation ”), based on which addresses the issues of planning and training health personnel in the republic, building a unified system from secondary vocational education to the first workplace, i.e. a whole range of measures is being taken to maximize the adaptation of the learning process to the realities of the modern healthcare system in the Republic of Tatarstan and in the Russian Federation. Kazan State Medical University is the only member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in the Russian Federation and Eastern Europe (the college represents the interests of the entire medical community of Canada, sets educational standards, procedures for admission of doctors to professional activities in Canada), which has received accreditation and trains graduates of medical schools of Canada and the USA.