Education

Sunday December 9, 2007

Bigger and better

By SARAH CHEW


educate@thestar.com.my

The country's largest, one-stop education event – the Star Education Fair – is back.

WITH over 150 exhibitors and 430 booths offering services and information on a wide range of courses atevery level, the Star Education Fair is set to be even bigger and better this time round.

Inti International Education Group is taking 14 booths, compared with 12 booths in the previous fair, to showcase all six of their colleges and is expecting a good response.

“The response last year was very good. That's why we're increasing our number of booths this year,” said Inti International University College administrative affairs senior director Danny Lee.

“We are hoping for an even bigger crowd.”

Representatives from exhibitors picking their booth locations at the recent balloting session for Star Education Fair 2008.
The Singapore Tourism Board is also anticipating more visitors and plans to move its seminar talks to another part of the venue instead of holding them at its 14-booth pavilion.

“One of the talks will be on Asean scholarships. Universities like National University of Singapore will be coming in too,” said its international operations (Asean and northern and eastern Malaysia) assistant manager, Jayvien Lau Suet Yan.

She added that visitors at the fair also stand a chance to win a study tour of Singapore.

Other institutions such as Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation, also taking up 14 booths, are banking on providing counselling services as a draw factor.

“We will be counselling students on choosing the right pathway and showing them their employability options,” said its international development manager, Muhammad Anis Ur Rehman.

Meanwhile, institutions like Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), which is taking three booths, already have plans for booth designs to attract prospective students.

“We're going to see if we can remove the partitions of the booths.

“We would like to have one big space to make it more visitor-friendly,” said UTM assistant registrar Abdul Razak Yunus.

Cesar Ritz College, Switzerland, will probably decorate its booth with “Swiss elements”, according to college representative iEduCare Services managing director Subrinna Chiew.

As has been the case in the past, the fair will be a must for SPM and STPM school-leavers with major decisions ahead of them. Working adults can also check out part-time and postgraduate study options.

According to International Islamic University Malaysia Harun M. Hashim Law Centre manager Bahavddeen Shaik Allauddin, the centre is taking a booth for the first time.

“We offer legal courses which are open to anyone, even working adults who want to have further qualifications,” he said, adding that the booth will showcase undergraduate and executive programmes.

Visitors can also expect to sample culinary products and win prizes at the Star Education Fair 2008, to be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on Jan 12 and 13.

The country premier education fair will also be held at the Penang International Sports Arena on March 1 and 2 next year.

For details and registration, call 03-7967 1388, ext 1168/ 1250/ 1243/ 1466, or 04-647 3899 (for Penang) between 9am and 5pm, from Mondays to Fridays, or e-mail:
msd@thestar.com.my.

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