Nations improve multilateral exchanges and promote development of education

BRICS countries will continue taking measures to further strengthen multilateral exchanges and cooperation on education, according to a declaration signed in Beijing on Wednesday.

The five member nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - agreed to "reiterate support for the BRICS Network University to collaborate in the fields of education, research and innovation, and encourage universities to participate in the BRICS University League" in the Beijing Declaration on Education.

They also said they will encourage more teachers and educational administrators to learn from the experiences of other countries in improving teacher quality and performance, and promoting the development of education through international exchanges.

Senior education officials from member nations signed the declaration on Wednesday during the fifth meeting of BRICS education ministers.

They convened to summarize the achievements made in education cooperation among BRICS member nations during the past decade and to look into the future.

The previous four meetings were held in Paris, Brasilia, Moscow and New Delhi. The sixth will be held in South Africa.

Chen Baosheng, China's education minister, said in a speech at the meeting in Beijing that 10 years has passed since BRICS countries started cooperating with each other, and during the past decade BRICS has become a paradigm for cooperation among emerging or developing countries.

"In particular, the countries have continuously deepened cooperation in education and achieved important progress," he said, citing that more than 40,000 students from BRICS countries were studying in China last year, accounting for almost 10 percent of all overseas students in the country.

Meanwhile, about 13,000 Chinese students were studying in BRICS member nations, Chen said. By the end of May, China had approved 152 education institutions or programs established with BRICS countries.

"I hope that BRICS members will continue joining hands to boost people-to-people exchanges and enrich the form and content of cooperation on education, so that we can make educational cooperation a pillar and a highlight of people-to-people exchanges among the members and, moreover, contribute to the progress of education globally," he said.

As announced in the declaration, the members will encourage the expansion of scholarship opportunities to students from each other's country's and increase cultural cooperation through language education and multilingualism.

zhaoxinying@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/06/2017 page5)