Brics business schools initiative
IN AN ATTEMPT to leverage tertiary education opportunities, Durban academics have launched the Brics Business Schools Association.
At a function hosted at the city’s Regent Business School last week, principal of Mancosa Professor Yusuf Karodia said the establishment of the association – which was a first – was aimed at dealing with the “new kid on the block”, or the five-state partnership between Russia, Brazil, South Africa, India and China, better known as Brics.
He said the best education was no longer based only in the West.
“I believe we are to stop looking at Western education and believing that the best education is either in the US or the UK. The fact is some of the best universities are in nations such as Russia, India and China.
Professor Anil Sooklal, from the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, said South African academics and tertiary institutions were slow to leverage the opportunities for improved education that existed in the member countries.
“We are calling for a South African Masters Degree in Brics and emerging market economies,” he said.
Such a degree was already on offer in Chinese universities, said China’s Consul-General in Durban, Wang Jianzhou.
Explaining the Brics partnership and how it was now affecting trends in the world economy, Sooklal said dominance by the countries that dominated after World War II was essentially at an end.
“Combined, the countries that make up Brics represent 25% of the world’s GDP.
“By 2030, it is predicted, the growth coming from Brics will be larger than the G7 countries (US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK) combined.
Professor Dhiru Soni, from the Regent Business School, said Brics was re-aligning the narrative of the world and that the development of the Brics Bank would change the focus of development, currently dictated by the World Bank.