Press Release

Gulf Education Exhibitors praise high quality of visitor’s inquiries

4-day-show attracted over 20,000 visitors

April 27^th, 2001

Exhibitors at the 13^th Gulf Education and Training exhibition, which concluded its activities yesterday (Friday), have expressed great delight at the enthusiasm of the show’s visitors. The show, which took place at the Dubai World Trade Centre from April 24 to 27, attracted over 20,000 visitors.

Carol Maalof, associate director of admissions, from the American University in Dubai said: “The quality of the inquiries is definitely improving, we are having more serious visitors this year than the years before.”

Hana Al Kash, registrar office, Zayed University, said: “This is a great opportunity for us to answer inquiries from potential students. We have students that are currently enrolled in the various departments here who can be very helpful to answer questions in great detail.”

Al Kash added that many visitors have been asking about the Executive MBA in E-commerce, a newly launched programme.

Chris Dixon, coordinator of the Australian Pavilion said: “Each year, the exhibition has been improving not only in the number of exhibitors but also in the number of visitors and the quality of their inquiries. Australia is looking at the region as an ever-growing market for exporting education.”

In 1999, the number of student visas issued for the GCC by the Australian Consulate in Dubai reached 250, this number increased to nearly 700 in the year 2000 and up till April 2001, the numbers of student visas issued reached 260. This is expected to reach nearly 1000 by the end of the year.

“The quality of education in Australia is becoming recognized, which adds to the appeal of sending children to receive world class education. Other factors include the safety of the Australian cities as well as the cost of tuition which is much lesser than the cost of education  in the US.”

“I have noticed that the exhibition is becoming well known for the high quality of the exhibitors and the fact that they can give meaningful and useful advice for the inquiries. There is also a lot of focus now, when it comes to education; many people know what they want to study and are here to find out where to do so,” said
Dixon.

“Next year, we expect that more institutes are going to take part and that the Australian Pavilion at the show will be nearly double the size,” he added.

From the UK perspective, Stephanie Evans, Education Promotion Manager, at the British Council in Dubai said that most of the inquires received at the show were for English Language Courses offered in the UK, followed by Post Graduate inquiries and then undergraduate inquiries.

She added that there are current talks regarding establishing a British campus in Dubai which will offer some curriculum from British universities. “The project is still in a primary stage. We have been discussing it with officials from the Dubai Government as well as the ministry of higher education. We will be allocated land at the new University City that is being set up. We have already contacted over 50 universities from the UK and are still searching for potential investors for this project,” she added.

Peter Roberts, from the Oxford Aviation College, said that they have established agreements with the Emirates Training College and the Abu Dhabi Men’s college for training purposes. “By 2002 we hope to be running six modules a year at the Emirates Training College,” said Roberts, adding that they have in the last three years recruited two pilots and three engineers from Dubai.

Robb Parker, the manager of the international recruitment center at the University of Brunswick from Canada said that they are excited with the direction they are taking in the market within the last eight years. “Our aim is to eventually have a partnership with one of the local institutes to offer our programs,” he said, adding that at present they have nearly 250 students from the UAE in both campuses of the university.

The chairman of the Canadian Education Network, Dr. George Chrysomilides, said that they are considering the UAE to be a dynamic market for Canadian educators. “The network has recruiting agreements with universities and colleges across Canada and facilitates the application process,” he said, adding that this is one of the best-organized exhibitions in the Gulf, which has become an effective recruiting fair for major Canadian institutes.

The Malaysian Ministry of Education also said that they have been approached by several academies for joint programs. “This is the first time for us to take part in this exhibition, and a lot of feasibility studies is taking place,” said Yaacob  Ibrahim, the deputy director general of Education at the department of private education, in the Malaysian Ministry of Education.

On the other hand, visitors have also been impressed by the exhibition and what it had to offer.  “It is very useful for people wanting to continue their education as it holds the best universities in the world, under one roof,” said Azza Al Harthi, a student at the Ajman University of Science and Technology.

Another visitor, Salim Bali, said: “I am looking for a good university for my son, and I must say our visit to the show was very useful!”

Next year, the exhibition will be held from April 9 to 12^th.  David Domoney, managing director of International Conferences and Exhibitions, organizers of the show said: “Over all, I think the exhibition has been very successful both from the exhibitors’ and the visitors’ point of view and next year we are targeting an even larger potential audience interested particularly in the IT market.”

He added that there has also been a great appeal for the seminars that were held alongside the show, and that students were highly interested in interacting closely with the exhibitors to find out what to expect from the institutes they are applying to.

“Support for the show and results have proved so positive and successful that we have ‘doubled’ the size of the exhibition halls for the 2002 event. Already over 60 per cent of next year’s space has been reserved to individual institutes and national pavilions have been confirmed from USA, Canada, UK, Australia, France, Malaysia, India and Lebanon,” said Domoney.

For more information contact:

Lamya Tawfik, PR Account Executive

Orient Planet PR & Marketing Communications

Tel: +971-4-3988901, Fax: +971-4-3988941, Dubai, UAE

E-mail: mailto:oplanet@emirates.net.ae