BRICS adopts New Delhi Declaration on Education

The 4th Meeting of BRICS Education Ministers Conference here yesterday adopted the New Delhi Declaration on Education that reiterates commitment to SDG4 which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all” and the "Education 2030 Framework for Action".

The Declaration by the BRICS Ministers of Education and assigned representatives of Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa, stated that it would initiate actions to formulate country-specific targets within the broader scope of the SDG4 and corresponding targets, taking into account the past gains and achievements in the education sector, emerging national development priorities, availability of resources, and institutional capacities.

It would integrate the SDG4-related targets with the national and sub-national-level education sector development plans/programmes; and build capacity at the national and subnational levels for measuring and monitoring progress towards SDG4 and corresponding targets using the indicators adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2016.

It reaffirmed the need for universal equal access to quality education, including secondary and higher education, technical and vocational education and training, and lifelong learning opportunities for all.

The members also resolved to share the best practices available in BRICS countries on collaboration in education, research and innovation through the BRICS Network University.

They decided to organize an annual conference of the BRICS Network University in the country of the current BRICS Chair. More universities would be encouraged to participate in the BRICS University League to facilitate student mobility and collaborative research.

Technical and vocational education and skills development programmes would be expanded for facilitating acquisition of skills and competencies by young people and adults for enhancing their employability and encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.

Coordination within the BRICS TVET Working Group would be strengthened to develop national reports, share experience relating to workforce demands and supply of skilled personnel in BRICS member countries, undertake skill gap analysis in consultation with industry/employers for designing TVET programmes, study skill qualification framework in different countries and draft a BRICS TVET qualification framework.

It would undertake studies to evaluate outcomes of TVET interventions and suggest policy responses. The Working Group will meet at least once a year.

It was resolved to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for improving access to education, enhancing the quality of teaching-learning process, teacher development, and strengthening educational planning and management.

A nodal institution is to be developed within each country and an institutional network created to share ICT policies, Open Educational Resources and other e-resources, including e-Libraries, among BRICS member-countries.

It was resolved to share information on higher education systems, approval and recognition processes, quality assurance and accreditation, and prevalent procedures and practices for evaluation and recognition of qualifications to facilitate academic mobility. It may also consider subsequently to constitute an expert group to work towards the development of a framework for mutual recognition of qualifications across BRICS countries.

BRICS would facilitate mobility of students and scholars, and encourage exchange of teaching faculty, especially those working in the areas relating to the six domains identified for cooperation within the BRICS Network University.

An enabling framework would be set up to promote research cooperation and knowledge transfer among BRICS countries in collaboration with other BRICS initiatives.

It would also encourage active involvement of the participating universities in the BRICS-NU.

NNN