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.

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AGENDA

SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETATION WILL BE PROVIDED IN ENGLISH, PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH

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)

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)

Watch the recording

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)

Watch the recording

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)

WATCH THE RECORDING

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)

WATCH THE RECORDING

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