The Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro is setting up a department specializing in studying the BRIC nations -- Brazil, Russia, India and China, a leading professor from the university said in Brasilia on Wednesday.

"A BRIC studies committee will begin working in two months more or less," Paulo Ferracioli, an economics professor at the university told a seminar organized by Brazil's Foreign Ministry.

"Within six months we are going to have specialists in each of the nations' economies," he added.

The term BRIC was coined in 2001 by Jim O'Neil, chief economist of U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs. He predicted that the four emerging economies would constitute a dominant force in the world economy by 2050.

Brazil will host the second BRIC summit on Thursday and Friday.