BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Development, Integration and Industrialization

Drawing from the broader theme of the Fifth Summit namely, “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Development, Integration and Industrialisation”, the eThekwini Academic Forum was organised around fi ve key themes, namely: BRICS and the global economy; reform ofinstitutions of global governance; co-operation on Africa; education, research and skills development for building industrialising economies; and peace and security. The Forum was jointly organised by the Department of Higher Education and Training, and Higher Education South Africa, with the support of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation. Approximately one hundred individuals from the academic community and civil society formations attended and participated at the forum. Each BRICS member nominated ten official delegates to participate in the discussions, five of whom presented papers on the identified topics. The forum was organised into plenary and parallel sessions, with each member given an opportunity to present a paper on one of the five themes at a plenary. A total of twenty five presentations were made, although only fourteen were developed further for inclusion in this publication.