BRICS 2025 Summit and India’s Educational Ambitions
BRICS and the Rewriting of Global Education: How India Is Shaping the Knowledge Economy
Education has quietly crossed a geopolitical threshold. What was once shaped largely by Western institutions and ideologies is now being actively reimagined by the Global South. At the heart of this shift lies India, assertive, prepared, and increasingly influential in defining how learning will evolve in a multipolar world.
When the 17th BRICS Summit convened in Rio de Janeiro in July 2025, global headlines largely focused on familiar themes such as currency alternatives, trade alliances, and climate commitments. Yet beneath the surface, a far more transformative development was unfolding—one that could fundamentally reshape education systems across emerging economies.
Away from the spotlight, BRICS nations began laying the foundation for a new educational order, one centered on artificial intelligence, equity, vocational mobility, and cross-border skill recognition. For India, this moment marked not just participation, but leadership.
A Subtle Shift With Monumental Implications
What many dismissed as diplomatic footnotes carried deep strategic weight. BRICS nations formally aligned on the ethical and inclusive use of AI in education, alongside a collaborative framework for technical and vocational training. These decisions signalled a break from inherited post-colonial education models and a move toward systems built for local realities and future economies.
This alignment was not spontaneous. A month earlier, BRICS Education Ministers had convened in BrasÃlia, agreeing on a shared principle: AI must empower learners, not entrench inequality. Education systems, they agreed, must serve populations at scale, especially in countries where access, language diversity, and infrastructure gaps remain persistent challenges.
For India, the timing could not have been more aligned.
India’s Policy Readiness Meets Global Validation
India entered the BRICS dialogue with momentum. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 had already disrupted traditional frameworks by championing multidisciplinary learning, vocational flexibility, indigenous knowledge systems, and digital-first delivery through platforms like DIKSHA and SWAYAM.
What was once viewed as a domestic reform experiment has now received international legitimacy. BRICS, representing over 40% of the world’s population, validated India’s vision, amplifying it beyond national borders.
The message was unmistakable: India was no longer adapting to global education trends; it was helping define them.
AI, Equity, and the Future of Learning
At the Rio Summit, BRICS leaders advanced the conversation with a shared declaration on AI governance in education. Brazilian President Lula captured the sentiment succinctly: AI must not become a privilege of the few or a tool of manipulation for the powerful.
India echoed this position with clarity and confidence. Officials from the Ministry of Education and NITI Aayog framed AI as a force multiplier particularly for underserved regions. From AI-driven tutoring and adaptive curricula to real-time translation tools, technology was positioned as a bridge across systemic gaps rather than a disruptor.
Vocational Mobility as Geopolitical Strategy
Beyond AI, one of the Summit’s most consequential outcomes was the formation of the BRICS Technical and Vocational Education Alliance. Its mandate is ambitious: harmonising curricula, enabling cross-border recognition of qualifications, and sharing industrial training best practices.
For Indian learners, this could be transformative. Diplomas earned in India may soon unlock opportunities in Brazil, South Africa, or beyond without bureaucratic redundancy. Vocational institutions across Indian states could collaborate directly with counterparts across BRICS nations, creating a shared skills economy.
This is more than administrative reform. It is a strategic repositioning of global standards subtly reducing dependence on Euro-American frameworks and opening new corridors of opportunity across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
India’s Emergence as a Knowledge Exporter
Historically perceived as a provider of cost-efficient labour and IT services, India now stands at the threshold of a new identity: a producer of intellectual capital. Curricula, policy models, digital learning tools, and governance frameworks developed in India are increasingly relevant and exportable across emerging markets.
Academic institutions are already responding. Initiatives like the BRICS Network University and BRICS Universities League are fostering joint research, shared campuses, and collaborative degrees. Indian institutions such as IIT Madras and IIM Bangalore are positioning themselves as leaders in AI research, education policy, and pedagogical innovation.
The future they envision is seamless and borderless: students learning across continents, credits recognised across institutions, and knowledge flowing multi directionally.
Challenges, But a Clear Trajectory
None of this is without complexity. Aligning educational systems across culturally, politically, and linguistically diverse nations will require sustained effort. Yet the shared incentive for mutual growth in a knowledge-driven economy outweighs the friction.
India’s demographic advantage, digital maturity, and policy clarity place it in a unique leadership position. Not to replace Western education models, but to offer a credible alternative rooted in relevance, powered by technology, and guided by equity.
Education, it turns out, is no longer just a domestic concern. It is a strategic instrument shaping the future of nations.
Brand Thinking in a Changing Knowledge Economy
As global shifts like the BRICS education realignment redefine how societies learn, grow, and compete, they also reshape how institutions, governments, and businesses must position themselves. At ABND, we examine these transformations through the lens of brand strategy, helping organizations translate complex geopolitical and cultural shifts into clear, purposeful identities.
Through services such as Brand Strategy, Brand Positioning, Brand Architecture, Brand Naming, Brand Identity, Corporate Branding, Digital Services, and Brand Building, ABND works with organisations navigating change at scale where ideas, education, and innovation intersect. Insights like this reflect how brands must evolve alongside the systems that shape the future of knowledge and learning.
Explore more strategic perspectives on global change and brand thinking at ABND.
