PremiumIn order to enhance their collaboration in academics and research, the ministers agreed on facilitating the mobility of students and faculty among BRICS partner states, besides encouraging joint and dual degrees between higher education institutions in BRICS countries
The five country BRICS grouping Tuesday agreed to enhance education cooperation, facilitate students’ mobility and learn from each other to better adoption of technology in higher education.
Sanjay Dhotre, the minister of state for education, communications and electronics and Information Technology chaired the 8th education ministers meeting of BRICS countries -- comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
“In order to enhance their collaboration in academics and research, the ministers agreed on facilitating the mobility of students and faculty among BRICS partner states, besides encouraging joint and dual degrees between higher education institutions in BRICS countries," said union education ministry said.
The ministry said education ministers from the BRICS countries virtually signed a joint declaration with the resolve to further strengthen their academic and research collaboration in higher, technical and vocational education," the union education ministry said.
“Regarding the need to leverage digital and technological solutions for ensuring quality inclusive education, the member states agreed to generate and expand their knowledge base that would help formulate initiatives in this regard. They also agreed to facilitate creation of mechanisms that would allow sharing of knowledge and best practices with each other," the ministry said in a statement.
They also recognized technical and vocational Training and Education as a priority area for every BRICS country and expressed their commitment to promoting collaboration in this area.
Chairing the meeting, Dhotre underscored the importance of multilateral cooperation, especially among the BRICS nations, for harnessing the full potential of the education sector.
He said online learning and digital delivery of education have emerged as important means for achieving education sector development goals. It is therefore necessary that we recognize the importance of leveraging technology to promote access to inclusive and equitable quality education for all.
The minister further said that while India realizes the potential of digital and technological solutions, “we also acknowledge the need to reduce and eventually eliminate the digital divide that restricts full realization of this potential. There is, therefore, a need to intensify efforts to eliminate disparity in access to digital resources, including digital devices, especially in the case of socially and economically disadvantaged population groups".
Prior to this, the International Governing Board (IGB) of the BRICS Network Universities met on the 29 June to take a look at the progress made by member states under this initiative so far and discuss ways to take it further. Higher education secretary Amit Khare, University Grants Commission chairman D.P. Singh, and Subhasis Chaudhary, the director of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) as members from India in the IGB of BRICS university network has already emphasized last week on the need of increased co-operaton.
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