The Department of Education and Training has reinvigorated its cooperation efforts with Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. Anne Baly, Group Manager, International, visited Latin America recently to give momentum to our engagement. During her visit, she signed agreements with each of the three countries:
• a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Education and Training with Mexico that will see the establishment of a bilateral joint committee for ongoing policy discussion and exchange (21 April)
Mexican MoU signing,
Anne Baly, Minister Efren Rojas Davila, Mexican Undersecretary of Higher Education and Ms Maria Dolores Sanchez Soler, Associate Director, Postgraduate and Scholarships – Mexican National Council of Science and Technology
• a work plan with the Colombian Ministry of National Education for joint collaborative activities including policy dialogue and Australian expertise in qualification frameworks, qualification recognition, the promotion of scholarships and student, researcher and academic mobility (22 April)
Anne Baly and Colombian Vice Minister for Higher Education Natalia Ariza
• a work plan with the Brazilian Ministry of Education which will establish a joint working group for increased policy dialogue, exchange and best practices in a range of areas such as quality assurance, internationalisation of education and research (24 April).
These partnerships in Latin America are the result of the department establishing a new Counsellor position in Brasilia, Brazil, in September last year to expand and diversify Australia’s international education engagement in a rapidly growing region.