Vice Minister of Education Xu Qingsen met separately with Buti Manamela, South African Minister of Higher Education and Training and Evânio Araújo, Brazilian Vice Minister of Information Management, Innovation, and Evaluation of Education Policies, during the 2026 World Digital Education Conference in Hangzhou on May 12.

In his meeting with Manamela, Xu said China is ready to work with South Africa to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state and advance outcomes of the fourth meeting of the China–South Africa High-Level People-to-People Exchange Mechanism. He highlighted opportunities to deepen cooperation in vocational education and training, university research, digital education, and student and teacher exchange.

Manamela said the conference provided an important platform for countries to share experience in digital education. He also expressed interest in learning from China’s education development practices and further strengthening bilateral cooperation.

During his meeting with Araújo, Xu said China is willing to deepen cooperation with Brazil in AI-enabled education, research collaboration and people-to-people exchange. He also expressed the hope that universities in both countries would establish more platforms for joint research and innovation.

Araújo spoke positively of educational cooperation between Brazil and China and praised China’s progress in digital education. He said Brazil is willing to expand cooperation in joint research and talent development.

During the conference, China and Brazil signed memorandums of understanding on educational cooperation, digital transformation and AI applications in education.