The News Education Expo in capital concludes on high note

Islamabad: The two-day ‘The News Education Expo 2019’ concluded here at the Pakistan-China Friendship Centre on Wednesday with both exhibitors and visitors praising the organisers for putting up a good event.

Thousands of visitors, mostly youth from Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and adjoining areas, met the representatives of private and government colleges and universities, and educational consultants at their respective stalls and got academic and career guidance. The major area of their interest was the scholarship programmes offered by educational institutions.

The career counsellors informed youths about the courses promising good jobs in the country and abroad. The organisers declared the expo a success and said it attracted the people in large numbers. They said the expo had around 100 stalls put up by universities, colleges, schools and educational consultants, which were visited by around 0.1 million people in two days.

The organisers said the next expo would be held in Lahore on June 29-30 to be followed by Multan and Faisalabad early next month. The stallholders claimed to have got good response from visitors, who, they said, not only obtained information about educational programmes but also enrolled themselves in them. They said many visitors inquired about overseas opportunities of higher education.

Noted among stallholders were Quaid-i-Azam University, Allama Iqbal Open University, FAST-NU University, Hitech University, Air University, Riphah University, IST, SZABIST, IQRA University, Muslim Youth University, Bahria University, PIDE, The City School, Lahore Grammar School, Institute of Chartered Accountant of Pakistan, Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan, University of Lahore, University of Management and Technology, Leads University, Superior Group of Colleges, Government College University, Information Technology University, PAC, KIPS, SBM, ABN Overseas Education, PIFFA, ICD, Conzept Connection, Gisma School, Virtual University, United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan, Alliance Francaise, British Council, HR Consultants, RMT Enterprise, and LearnOBots.

Dr Saqib Riaz, dean at the Allama Iqbal Open University’s Mass Communication Department, said for the first time, the university had participated in the expo to increase enrolments by highlighting its courses, learning environment, and future prospects, and the experience turned out to be very good.

“This expo has provided students with an opportunity to learn from representatives of the leading colleges and universities about the best academic opportunities available in the country and abroad as well as employability before making own choice,” he said.

Dr Saqib called for the happening of more and more such events to further the cause of education in the country. Aaeza, the education and career counselling officer at the ICMAP, said she had a good experience at the expo like previous years.

“We’re here to create awareness of cost and management accountancy and the importance of professional qualification in this field for higher enrolments. We’ve achieved our objective,” she said, adding that it’s really good to be part of the mega event.

Visitors declared the holding of expo beneficial. Sehar, a college student, said she was interested in a pharmacy degree programme, so the expo provided her with the chance to interact with the representatives of varsities offering the course under one roof and decide on the best option.

“Before coming here, I didn’t know that the University of Lahore, too, offers pharmacy degree, so participation in expo increased my information about further education,” she said. Mumtaz Sikandar, the mother of a schoolchild, said she had shown up at the event to have the first-hand information about academic programmes offered by the leading educational institutions besides their academic standards, learning environment, fee structure, scholarships, and career prospects. She said such events should happen every six months to benefit students. In the concluding ceremony, the organisers gave away shields to stallholders.