The language training of foreign citizens, preceding their studies in higher and postgraduate professional education programs, has been conducted at the University since 1979.
In 2004, by decision of the Academic Council and according to the order of the rector, a “Preparatory department for Foreign Citizens” was established in the structure of the Faculty of Philology, where eight students from Turkey, the USA, Iraq, South Korea, Vietnam and China studied on a commercial basis. The origins of the Preparatory Faculty for foreign students were founded by Associate professor of the Department of Modern Russian at KSU, Candidate of Philological Sciences Rais Niyazovich Safin.
Since 2005, the summer school for students studying within the quota for the education of foreign citizens and stateless persons of the Government of the Russian Federation has been operating, which successfully continues its activities at the present time.
In order to further develop the Preparatory Department, increase the number of students studying at the expense of the budget and on a commercial basis, it was necessary to obtain a state license and funding to transform the Preparatory Department into a full-fledged Preparatory School with three departments: the Department of Russian Language, the Department of Natural and Physical-Mathematical Sciences and the Department of Humanities.
Initially, the Preparatory School was located in several small classrooms of the KSK KFU UNICS buildings, then, due to an increase in the number of students, it was transferred to the buildings of the Universiade Village campus, as well as to the university academic buildings on Gvardeyskaya and Levo-Bulachnaya Streets.
From 2010 to 2017, the Preparatory School was headed by Candidate of Philological Sciences Rais Niyazovich Safin, then Candidate of Biological Sciences Elena Dominikovna Shimkovich (2017-2019). Then the dean of the faculty was the vice-rector for External Relations, Candidate of Sociological Sciences Alishev Timirkhan Bulatovich. Currently, the dean is Mukhametov Airat Rinatovich.
The task of the Preparatory School is to prepare foreign students in the Russian language, used as a means to obtain a specialty, and in general education subjects for successful continuation of studies at faculties and institutes of both KFU and other universities in Russia.
The Preparatory School increased the number of foreign students over the following years. Over the entire period of activity, more than 7,000 foreign citizens have been trained as part of pre-university preparation for admission to Kazan University and other universities.
The number of students of the Preparatory School by year
| Years | Number of countries | The number of students at the end of the academic year |
| 2002 | 3 | 6 |
| 2003 | 3 | 3 |
| 2004 | 4 | 8 |
| 2005 | 5 | 10 |
| 2006 | 3 | 11 |
| 2007 | 5 | 29 |
| 2008 | 6 | 40 |
| 2009 | 5 | 50 |
| 2010 | 14 | 33 |
| 2011 | 20 | 104 |
| 2012 | 27 | 127 |
| 2013 | 32 | 150 |
| 2014 | 37 | 260 |
| 2015 | 40 | 300 |
| 2016 | 35 | 400 |
| 2017 | 29 | 428 |
| 2018 | 42 | 497 |
| 2019 | 50 | 556 |
| 2020 | 44 | 691 |
| 2021 | 52 | 1 358 |
| 2022 | 50 | 1 017 |
| 2023 | 56 | 1 163 |
In 2010-2017, under the leadership of Rais Niyazovich Safin, the Preparatory School developed as an integral, cohesive work collective with a well-structured administrative structure, its own pedagogical traditions, published textbooks and its own unique methods of teaching the Russian language and general education disciplines.
In 2017-2019, under the guidance of Associate Professor, Candidate of Biological Sciences Elena Dominikovna Shimkovich, at the Preparatory School, special attention was paid to the practical application of the Russian language and the training of students according to the standard of the Russian Unified State Exam.
From 2019 to 2023, the dean of the Preparatory School was Timirkhan Bulatovich Alishev, Candidate of Sociological Sciences. In order to implement the national project “Export of Education” and attract foreign citizens to study in the Russian Federation, increased attention was paid to the formation of a modern educational environment.
New educational spaces are being created and filled: recreation areas, recreation areas, an assembly hall with 80 seats, a library-media center are being created, high-speed Internet access is provided in academic buildings, biology, chemistry classrooms, language and computer classes are being equipped.
To expand the opportunities for learning the Russian language and general education subjects, a hybrid learning format is being introduced, which involves the use of electronic and digital educational resources. Since 2024, the dean of the Preparatory School is the candidate of Geographical Sciences Airat Rinatovich Mukhametov. Since October 2024, a renovated building at 12 Isaeva Street has been opened for students – a new full-fledged educational space with all necessary infrastructure and modern educational and multimedia equipment, including 22 classrooms.