Grant Management as a Mechanism for Increasing of Competitiveness of Kazan State Medical University

The work is devoted to designing grant-management system (GMS) for Kazan State Medical University (KSMU). The best practices in university GMS, efficiency evaluation and grant funding risks were analyzed in pre-design study. The core of the designed GMS is the grant management office, its structure is proposed. A grant policy of KSMU is suggested. It was found within a business plan that the introduction of SGM has financial viability with deductions in the amount of not less than 15% of the size of grants in favor of the University, with an average or high efficiency of GMS. The deductions from grants are aimed to finance activities for achieving the strategic development objectives of the school and increase of competitiveness (in the first place - to finance the GMS). The main risks of the GMS implementation were evaluated and ways to minimize them were proposed. The effectiveness of the GMS can be evaluated not only on financial performance, but also on the number/quality of grants received and growth of total grant funding, on the presence of big national/international grants. The long term effectiveness of the GMS implementation can be assessed by the dynamics of promotion of KSMU in national and international rankings. Improving the competitiveness of KSMU due to GMS implementation can be achieved by increasing the number of grants and the amount of grant funding, improvement of financing of strategic development objectives, increase of scientific activity, attracting leading and young scientists, improvement of the material and technical base, increasing publication activity. Within the work KSMU GMS project, which can be effectively used in order to improve the efficiency of the grant activity, increase competitiveness and achieve strategic development objectives of the school, was developed.