On October 17th, the University Presidents Forum for BRICS  was held at Beijing Normal University and Vice President of HIT Ren Nanqi  attended the Forum.

Yuan Rengui, the Minister of Education, the Brazilian,  Russian, Indian and South African ambassadors to China, Ma Zehua, Chinese  Chairman in Business Council of BRICS, and the congressman of South Africa were  present at the opening ceremony of the Forum and delivered speeches.       

During the Forum, the presidents had a heated debate on  issues related to innovation, transformation, university engagement, and  cooperation of universities among BRICS. At the BRICS University Presidents  Roundtable, Ren Nanqi stressed that as the source of intellectual training,  technological progress, and inheritance of civilization in a nation,  universities should exchange ideas with each other, learn from each other,  embrace the whole world, and display every university’s strengths and  characteristics, especially in this cooperation and global information age. HIT  will play an active role in the establishment and development of BRICS  University League and promote the cooperation and communication between  universities in the League. He also advised that mechanisms for regular science  and humanity communication based on the League should be established, which  include scholarships for the talented in BRICS, the competition of  entrepreneurship and innovation for youth, and academic exchanges between  researchers. After three rounds of roundtable meetings, the university  presidents of over 50 renowned universities from Brazil, Russia, India, South  Africa, and China signed the Beijing Consensus. According to the Consensus,  universities and research institutes from BRICS should strengthen trust and  understanding across the world, make tireless efforts to promote communication  between different civilizations, enhance solidarity and cooperation, vigorously  promote environmental protection, raise the level of student exchange programs,  and bridge the gap between young students from different countries. There will  be a platform for intellectual training and academic cooperation which is  conducive to scientific research and higher level education. Through joint  research, the BRICS will obtain more intellectual support to tackle  international affairs concerning the interests of BRICS and deal with economic  and political changes. The relationships between BRICS will be  closer.

During the Forum, Ren Nanqi also had a meeting with the  ambassador of Russia to China Andrey Denisov and the president of Ural Federal  University Koksharov successively and gave them each a Memorial Album of the  Association of Sino-Russian Technical Universities During the War on  anti-Fascism as a gift.