BRICS Countries Ministers of Education met in Beijing

14:06, July 7, 2017

The meeting was devoted to the issues of quality assurance and availability of education, as well as organization of cooperation between the BRICS countries in the area of education

On July 4^th, 2017, a meeting of the senior officials of the BRICS countries’ Ministries of Education took place in Beijing. The meeting was devoted to the issues of quality assurance and availability of education, as well as organization of cooperation between the BRICS countries in the area of education. Russia was represented by M. Khomyakov, Vice-Rector for International Relations of Ural Federal University, and I. Pozdnyakov, the First Secretary of the Russian Embassy in China.

At first, the parties discussed the text of the Beijing Declaration of the BRICS Ministers of Education. The discussion included the organization of a large-scale university cooperation based on the BRICS Network University, cooperation in the field of distance education and e-learning, technical and professional education, organization of youth camps and summer/winter schools. All the proposals were reflected in the Beijing Declaration.

The second half of the day was devoted to thematic discussions on increasing the fair availability of education, quality of education, cooperation between universities, and increasing the global awareness of the BRICS countries’ education.

Russia acted as the moderator of the section devoted to increasing the quality of education, which covered, among others, the issues of international accreditation of educational programs as well as problems concerning recognition of qualifications, diplomas and degrees.

The discussions led to a general opinion concerning the necessity to profoundly use the platform of the BRICS Network University for implementation of joint projects on education, science and innovation. The presenters also emphasized the role that the Network University plays in increasing the visibility of the educational systems of the BRICS countries.