Could your Indian degree soon carry more weight across BRICS countries?

BRICS education ministers have advanced talks on a mutual recognition of qualifications framework. The move could ease student mobility in STEM fields, though professional licensing rules would still apply.

In Short

• Education ministers agreed to hold more meetings on qualifications framework
• Russia hosts the largest Indian university cohort among BRICS destinations
• China, Iran and Egypt also report notable Indian student numbers

Could an Indian engineering, science or technology degree one day be recognised more easily across Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa and the newer BRICS members? That could become a possibility if discussions around Mutual Recognition of Qualifications (MRQ) translate into a formal framework.

India, which is hosting the BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12-13, 2026, has been pushing greater cooperation in education, research and academic mobility. The BRICS grouping currently has 11 members – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

At the 13th BRICS Education Ministers’ Meeting held in Bhubaneswar in August, member countries agreed to convene further Working Group meetings to advance discussions on an agreement on MRQ. The objective, as stated, was to facilitate greater academic mobility and cooperation across BRICS.

The idea of MRQ is particularly important for STEM education. If qualifications, credits and academic standards can be mapped and recognised across countries, students could potentially move more easily between BRICS universities for higher studies, research, exchange programmes and eventually employment.

RUSSIA, CHINA AND UAE ALREADY ATTRACT INDIAN STUDENTS

The latest Ministry of External Affairs data, based on registrations with Indian missions, shows that Russia is currently the biggest BRICS destination for Indian university students, with around 27,000 reported in universities and tertiary institutions in January 2025.

China followed with 5,330, while Iran had 2,930 and Egypt 1,500. South Africa had 536 Indian university students and Saudi Arabia 830.

The UAE presents an interesting case. It had 2,53,832 Indian students overall, but only 6,507 were in universities or tertiary institutions. The overwhelming majority — more than 2.47 lakh — were school students.

The remaining BRICS members currently have much smaller Indian higher-education cohorts: Indonesia had 17 students, Brazil seven, while no Indian university students were reported in Ethiopia in the January 2025 dataset.

BRICS STEM CORRIDOR AND MRQ

This uneven distribution also shows why MRQ needs to be taken seriously rather than remaining a diplomatic declaration.

A functional BRICS education corridor could focus initially on STEM fields — engineering, computer science, AI, biotechnology, medicine, climate technology and advanced manufacturing — where universities and industries across the grouping have complementary strengths.

It could eventually mean easier credit transfers, clearer equivalence of degrees, joint programmes, scholarships, research exchanges and smoother movement of students and researchers.

However, mutual recognition would not automatically mean that every Indian degree becomes valid for professional practice in another country. Countries would still need common quality-assurance standards, discipline-specific requirements and clear rules for regulated professions.

For Indian students, therefore, the real test will be whether BRICS can move from broad cooperation to a practical MRQ framework - one that makes an Indian STEM degree genuinely more portable across the world's emerging education and technology hubs.

- Ends