In June 2023, in South Africa, the BRICS education ministers noted the importance of considering approaches to creating rankings and assessments of universities in the association's countries, and on June 11, 2024, at a meeting in Kazan, they confirmed their intention to support and develop initiatives in this area and, in particular, to hold regular seminars on the topic of academic leadership.
The Russian Ministry of Education and Science held the first two such seminars (September 17-18 and October 18). They were attended by representatives of relevant education ministries and experts from the professional community of the BRICS countries.
During the meetings, the parties exchanged national experience in developing and applying rankings, developed measures to strengthen trust in rankings and other assessments, and discussed the version of the pilot ranking of BRICS universities proposed by the Russian side.
The Russian side was represented at the seminars by Dmitry Grishankov, Deputy Chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, Advisor to the President of the Russian Union of Rectors (RUR). He spoke about Russia's experience and presented for discussion the BRICS Principles aimed at developing rankings of the association's universities, proposed at the congress of the Russian Union of Rectors on July 4, 2024. In addition, on October 18, he presented for discussion a pilot BRICS ranking prepared on the basis of the "Three University Missions" family of rankings on the initiative of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia and the RUR with the assistance of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Education in accordance with the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation.
All participants of the seminar noted the importance of forming rankings of universities of the BRICS countries, based on the fact that the existing global rankings do not meet the interests and do not take into account the national characteristics of the states of the association. Representatives of the BRICS countries spoke about their national practices of preparing and applying rankings of universities. Based on the materials of the reports of the participants of the seminars, a review of BRICS ranking practices is currently being prepared for publication.
The participants in the discussion also unanimously supported the idea of the BRICS Principles as a common basis for ranking. During the seminars, several dozen clarifying amendments were made to the text of the Principles. At the initiative of the Chinese side, a proposal was made to the Principles to use university rankings to expand international cooperation and develop mutual recognition mechanisms. The participants in the seminar agreed that reliable and high-quality rankings can become a platform for regional cooperation.
The Russian version of the pilot BRICS university ranking received a warm response from the seminar participants. They made a large number of constructive proposals based on national practice. These proposals will be taken into account during further expert consultations in order to form a university ranking of the BRICS countries.