BRICS Universities League
BRICS Universities League is a consortium of leading research universities from BRICS countries including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Initiated at Fudan University, Shanghai on July 6, 2013, the League aims to become a platform for academic and expert cooperation, comparative research, and international educational projects. In October 2015, around 40 outstanding universities from the five BRICS countries gathered in Beijing Normal University, Beijing to hold the BRICS Universities Presidents Forum. After this Forum, the participating universities declared the Beijing Consensus, and they decided to establish the BRICS Universities League. The League Secretariat is located in Beijing Normal University, with the BNU as a leading university in terms of BRICS higher education and academic cooperation. The League is expanding to attract more and more outstanding BRICS universities to participate in its activities. The BRICS Universities League has performed as a strategic pillar for the BRICS cooperation.
Recent developments
In the years following its establishment, the League has expanded its activities significantly. In 2024 a new event — the BRICS+ Universities Rectors' Forum — was held for the first time at Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia, bringing together rectors and presidents of BRICS and BRICS-partner universities. The 2025 edition will take place in Rio de Janeiro under the theme “Education, Artificial Intelligence, Sustainable Development, Inclusion, Diversity, Poverty Alleviation and Standardisation in the BRICS+ Space”.In March 2024, a wider initiative — the BRICS+ Universities Association — was launched to include not only core BRICS universities but also partner-country universities across Asia, Africa and Latin America, aiming at a broader “BRICS+” higher education network.
According to a 2025 analysis, BRICS-based universities are increasing their international visibility and shifting from regional to global scale research cooperation, assisted by networks such as the League.