The Meeting of Ministers of Education of the SCO Member States is a key mechanism for multilateral cooperation in education facilitating academic mobility, academic and educational exchanges, and joint educational initiatives.
Meetings of Ministers of Education of the SCO Member States have been held since 2012 at the initiative of the People’s Republic of China.
The legal framework for cooperation in education within the SCO includes the Agreement between the Governments of the SCO Member States on Cooperation in Education dated 15 June 2006, as well as the Memorandum of Cooperation between educational institutions of higher and secondary vocational training in culture and arts of the SCO Member States signed in Dushanbe on 17 September 2021.
Nine meetings have been held during the period under review.
On 13 May 2025, the 9th Meeting of Ministers of Education of the SCO Member States was held in Urumqi chaired by the People’s Republic of China. Following the meeting, a Protocol was signed; the document of the second meeting of the Coordination Council of the SCO University was approved; a decision was taken to expand the list of core universities and fields of study; the accession of Belarus and Iran to the Agreement on the Functioning of the SCO University was endorsed; the SCO University Digital Education Development Plan was approved; and the programme of the 15th Education Without Borders Week to be hosted by Chinese universities was endorsed.
The 2025-2026 MME chairmanship was assumed by the Republic of Belarus.