The News Education Expo 17 attracts thousands of students on first day

LAHORE: Pakistan’s biggest “The News Education Expo’17”, an initiative of the Jang Media Group, started at the Expo Center here on Saturday, which attracting a large number of students on the first day.

Dr Umar Saif, adviser to the Punjab chief minister and vice-chancellor of the Information Technology University (ITU), was the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony, who formally opened the expo. Sarmad Ali and Saadia Shariff of the Jang Media Group were also present.

 Dr Umar Saif, who is also chairman of the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), visited stalls set up by different universities and education institutions from across the country and interacted with the representatives of the institutions. He showed keen interest in programmes being offered by the participating universities, their student enrolment and faculty strength. 

The acclaimed Pakistani computer science and entrepreneur Dr Umar Saif, who is also chairman of the MIT Enterprise Forum Pakistan, highlighted the need of creating more opportunities of quality higher education for youths of the country. He also lauded the contribution of the private sector in the field of higher education. “Pakistan’s higher education is taking off and it is good to see progressive policies being introduced by both federal and provincial HECs,” he said. He also appreciated the efforts of the Jang Media Group saying “The News Education Expo” had been a great opportunity creating awareness among students and institutions over the years. 

More than 50 universities and higher education institutions, career counsellors and education consultants are part of this year’s expo which will continue till Sunday (today) from 10am to 7pm with free entry.  

“The best thing about this expo is the presence of so many universities under one roof," said one of the visitors, Sahar, who was exploring different stalls to seek admission and scholarship related information. 

Madiha Qayyum, Director Admission at University of Central Punjab (UCP), said the university had attracted many potential and serious candidates and added the overall response of the expo was good. She talked about merit-based scholarship opportunities for students at the UCP and said the university was even offering scholarships on the basis of students’ participation in curricular activities. 

“We received many potential inquires on the first day of the expo and expect many more on the second day,” said Akram Faiza, student counsellor at Superior Group of Colleges. She said her group had around 160 international partners while a split degree programme was also being offered. 

“Information Technology University is relatively a nascent university but has truly world-class facilities and highly accomplished faculty,” said Farzana Shahid, the varsity’s Director Academics. She said the university was involved in locally relevant research and she particularly mentioned low-cost ventilator and low-cost sensors in hospitals to automatically monitor bed occupancy developed by the ITU faculty.   She also termed the expo a great platform for students to explore different academic opportunities.     

Prof Manzoor ul Hassan Niazi, project director of Leads Schools and Colleges, termed the expo arrangements perfect and a great opportunity for both students and institutions to interact. He said 21 colleges and 75 schools were running under the project which was growing fast. 

 “The News Education Expo’17” will feature a free counseling seminar “Emerging subject areas and scholarship opportunities” by renowned educationist and career counsellor, Syed Abidi, at the Expo Center at 3pm on Sunday (today). 

This year’s platinum sponsors of The News Education Expo’17 include Punjab Group of Colleges, The University of Lahore and Information Technology University (ITU), Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan, CA Pakistan and E-Learn Punjab.   

The gold sponsors are Lahore Leads University, UMT, Superior Group of Colleges, KIPS Education System, Stars Academy, Unique Group of Institutions, GC University, Lecole, SKANS, PAC, Minhaj University, Riphah International University, NISA Girls Colleges, Adabistan-e-Soophia School, FC College (A Chartered University), Millennium Roots Schools, TMUC, FAST-NU, High Brow, Star Institute, Virtual University and Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan.