BRICS Network University meeting took place in South Africa

16:27, July 10, 2018

The third annual Conference of the BRICS Network University was held on July 5-7 at the University of Stellenbosch

The сonference was organized around six knowledge areas of the BRICS NU: energy; computer science and information security; ecology and climate change; economics; water resources and pollution treatment; and BRICS studies. The primary aim of the event was to consolidate the BRICS education agenda and to highlight the strategic research areas to be taken forward through the BRICS NU.

The conference was attended by more than 150 delegates from the BRICS countries.  South Africa's Higher Education and Training Minister Naledi Pandor hosted the conference and spoke during the opening session. Her message to delegates as they prepared for the workshops was to think critically about practical action. “BRICS is about action. It was not established as talkshops but to use the various attributes of each of the five countries, draw on each others’ strengths, and address each others’ weaknesses to bring our combined influence to bear in changing the world.”

Maxim Khomyakov, Head of Russian National Coordinating Committee of the BRICS Network University, underlined that today the BRICS NU is the only active platform for discussing academic agenda of BRICS countries. He noted that to enhance the activities of the consortium it is planned to establish the permanent official Secretariat of the BRICS NU. 

Maria Guzikova, Russian coordinator of International Thematic Group on BRICS studies and Head of Department of International Relations at UrFU: “The third annual conference brought us a number of positive changes. Expanded representation of South African universities offers new prospects for collaboration and new approaches to the problems relevant for all BRICS countries. The main appeal of the conference is to suggest practical solutions to these problems that will help to improve the quality of life in BRICS countries and contribute to increasing the reputation of the participating universities on the international level. We had a number of fruitful meetings: it was agreed to develop a joint program on BRICS studies with Beijing Normal University, expand research collaboration with our long-standing partner - North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power. UNICAMP, our partners from Brazil, suggest expanding collaboration to develop online courses on BRICS social problems (fighting poverty and inequality, role of the state in the modern world etc), and South African universities propose publishing peer-reviewed journals in these areas. 

One of the important results of the conference was the preparation and signing of the Stellenbosch Declaration, specifying further steps and principles of the development of the BRICS NU, including the increased use of digital technologies within the consortium and stronger focus on research collaboration and postgraduate education. Results of the conference were reported during the Senior Official Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Education held on July 9, and were included in the Cape Town Declaration of the BRICS Ministers of Education signed on July 10.