The News Education Expo 2019 attracts thousands of visitors

Thousands of visitors, including students, academics and literati, attended ‘The News Education Expo 2019’ at the Karachi Expo Centre on its opening day on Saturday.

The educational event, which is to last till today (Sunday), was inaugurated by Sarmad Ali of the Jang Media Group.

Various universities, degree-awarding institutes and educational organisations set up over 80 stalls at the event to provide information about their educational programmes to prospective students. The representatives of the educational institutions at the stalls answered queries of the visitors and provided them information related to their academic programmes, fee structure, scholarships and career counselling.

Shabahat Asghar of the Campus France, which is being managed by the French embassy in Pakistan and has its head office in Paris, said the organisation had participated in the exhibition to create awareness about opportunities of higher education in France.

“Students in Pakistan have several misconceptions regarding the education system of France,” he said, adding that such exhibitions provided them the opportunity to address such misunderstandings.

Stating an example of such misconceptions, he said Pakistani students generally did not know that there were various educational programmes in France that were offered completely in English language at minimal cost. “There are also several scholarships about which students don’t have any idea,” he explained.

At another stall, Sindh Madressatul Islam University’s (SMIU) Osama Bin Lutfullah was guiding students about his university. “Students who have completed intermediate generally have misconceptions regarding semi-government and government universities,” he said, adding that he was there at the event to address such misconceptions. Regarding the SMIU, he said although it was a government university, it operated through its own finances. The United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP), which is a joint commission of Pakistan and the US, also had its stall at the exhibition. Its USA education adviser, Akna Khan, told The News that many students wanted to know how they could apply for studies in the US. For this, she said, they could register at their website for an advice. She explained that the USEFP had three departments, one of which was about scholarships such as the Fulbright Scholar Program. The second department was about testing such as conducting the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) and the third one was responsible for guiding students and it held free advisory sessions about the educational opportunities in the US.

The News also talked to visitors who said the expo was a great platform to help the students explore various varsities and decide on what course they should take for higher education.

A student, Saad Aslam, said so many educational institutes under one roof had given him the opportunity to explore maximum options. “I am a fresh graduate from Karachi University and exploring my options to study abroad. This exhibition addressed my various misconceptions,” he said.

Another student, Nabil, said he had queries in mind about scholarship opportunities by local degree-awarding institutions. “I am happy to get really encouraging responses by some of the institutions.” Some educational institutions displayed excellent work of their graduating students in the forms of dresses, fashion accessories and science projects.