Dr Paul Smit of the Department of Human Resource Management in UP's Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences attended an international BRICS conference  in Moscow, Russia, from 24 to 26 May 2016.

The conference was themed 'Pressing Issues in Global Studies'. During the plenary session of the conference, Dr Smit delivered a paper with the title 'The establishment of a Scientific and Educational Research Centre on Labour Relations in BRICS Countries'. The paper was very well received and at the end of the conference Dr Smit was asked as a BRICS representative of South Africa to sign a memorandum of agreement on the establishment of scientific and educational research centres in BRICS countries. Some of the aims of the proposed centres include collaborative research on a wide variety of topics, staff and student exchange programmes, and mutual support between universities in BRICS countries in terms of improvement of international rankings. A copy of the signed memorandum will be handed over to UP management.