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About OBREAL Global Interregional Dialogues
One core component of OBREAL Global’s mission is to facilitate and promote inter-regional dialogue and collaboration between different global regions, in particular those who may not have structured and/or consistent higher education and research relations.
The Interregional Dialogue series have been designed as a key feature of OBREAL Global’s activities to connect partners in different regions of the world and to explore themes of common and emerging interest in higher education from an interregional perspective.
The first of the OBREAL Global’s Interregional Dialogues series is being organised by the Brazilian Association for Higher Education – FAUBAI -, Symbiosis International University, the South American and the Indian OBREAL Global Chapters and is supported by the Higher Education of Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry -FICCI-.
On this occasion, during the next 3 months, we will be discussing internationalisation and cooperation in higher education with partners in South America and India. It will be a great occasion to learn more about both regions and their institutions and challenges and to enhance and support bridges and links between both regions.
SESSION 1
Higher Education internationalisation: India and South America
8 October 2021 – 14h CEST / 17:30h IST / 09h BRT / 7h BOG
The session will be divided in two parts. In the first part, associations of universities from South America and India will very briefly present the main objectives of the series of dialogues and the importance of establishing permanent bridges between India and South America in higher education and research. The second part will be a high-level discussion on the importance of higher education and internationalisation in Indian – South American relations, as a means to recover previous efforts of the BRICS and address current development needs of both regions/countries.
introduction to the dialogue


Kiran Gopakumar Rajalekshmi
Vice President, OBREAL Global / Dean, Middle East College (Oman)



Álvaro Maglia
Co-chair OBREAL Global South American Chapter / Secretary General, AUGM (Uruguay)



Oscar Domínguez
Co-chair, OBREAL Global South American Chapter / Executive Director, ASCUN (Colombia)




Vidya Yeravdekar
Chair, OBREAL Global Indian Chapter / Pro Chancellor, Symbiosis International University / Chair, FICCI HE (India)




Márcio Venício Barbosa
President, FAUBAI (Brazil) / International Relations Officer and Professor, UFRN (Brazil)
SPEAKERS


Paulo Speller – Facilitator
OBREAL Global (Brazil)


Renato Janine Ribeiro
President, Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC), Former Minister of Education of Brazil


Manju Singh
Joint Secretary, University Grants Commission (India)
SESSION 2
Strategies, institutional challenges and approaches to the internationalisation of higher education institutions in India and South America
14 October 2021 – 14h CEST / 17:30h IST / 09h BRT / 7h BOG
The session will build upon session 1, offering institutional voices from India and Brazil, on the topic of internationalisation. It will explore opportunities for India and South America to enhance their academic cooperation (mobility etc.) and to share concrete institutional experiences regarding internationalisation strategies that prioritise themes and approaches relevant to both India and South America.
SPEAKERS




Vidya Yeravdekar – Facilitator
Chair, OBREAL Global Indian Chapter / Pro Chancellor, Symbiosis International University / Chair, FICCI HE (India)




Márcio Venício Barbosa
President, FAUBAI (Brazil) / International Relations Officer and Professor, UFRN (Brazil)


Pankaj Mittal
Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities -AIU- (India)
SESSION 3
Internationalisation of the curricula: New ways of enhancing South-South-North cooperation
19 November 2021 – 13h CET / 17:30h IST / 09h BRT/ 7h BOG
The pandemic has had considerable consequences for how learning and teaching is organised: It has accelerated the discussion on the importance of innovating curricula design and designing more responsive and dynamic learnings offers for students. This session will discuss how flexibilisation and modularisation of curricula can be seen as an opportunity for higher education institutions in South America and India and a means to delivery upon their internationalisation strategies. The session will also explore trends regarding flexibilisation of learning and teaching and modularisation of the curricula both in India and South America.
The session will have two parts: The first will be dedicated to the policy dimension of the flexibilisation of the curricula and will present recent experiences in South America and in India. The second part will be dedicated to institutional perspectives how learning offers are designed, shaped and organized, providing concrete examples.
SPEAKERS - POLICY DISCUSSION


Aziz Tuffi Saliba – Facilitator
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil)


Mónica Marquina
Researcher, National Council of Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina -CONICET- (Argentina)


N.V. Varghese
Vice Chancellor, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration -NIEPA- (India)
SPEAKERS - INSTITUTIONAL CHALLANGES


Anita Patankar
Director, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts -SIU- (India)


Pablo Beneitone
Professor, Universidad de Lanús (Argentina)
SESSION 4
Internationalisation through joint research strategies and programmes
10 December 2021 – 13h CET / 17:30h IST / 09h BRT / 7h BOG
International research strategies are key for the development of a relevant research portfolio at universities. They are also a key component of holistic institutional internationalisation. This session will be focused on discussing the role that joint research has played in the international strategies of Indian and South American universities and how to improve it to enhance the cooperation between India and South America research systems. The session will also explore the role of joint PhD supervisions and joint PhD programmmes, and how they can boost cooperation between the two regions.
The session will be divided in two parts: The first will present the existing policy initiatives and programmes and will discuss the policy challenges in enhancing research cooperation between India and South America. The second part will feature the experience of universities in implementing joint research programmes between South America and India.
SPEAKERS - POLICY PERSPECTIVE


Marcelo Knobel
Former President of UNICAMP (Brazil)


Adrijit Goswami
Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (India)
SPEAKERS - INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE


Ketan Kotecha
Director, Symbiosis Institute of Technology -SIU- (India)


José Celso Freire
Vice-President, FAUBAI (Brazil) / Chief Advisor External Relations, UNESP (Brazil)