A total of 70 institutions and companies with 120 stalls are taking part in the fair titled 5th Banglalink Fdim Expo 2005.

Educational institutions from Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, China, Australia, Cyprus, Thailand, India, Ukraine, the UK and the USA have put up their stalls to attract local students.

A total of 13 local private universities are also participating in the fair.

Educational institutions are offering special discount for the visitors.

Service organisations like banks, airlines, newspapers, and a telecom company have also put up stalls to make people aware of their services.

Some local and foreign IT institutes, student counseling centres, emigration and language institutes have also joined the fair.

For the first time, ten companies have set up stalls at the fair seeking curriculum vitae from the prospective candidates for the vacant posts of their organisations.

State Minister for Education ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon inaugurated the fair as chief guest.

He said existing 53 private universities are not enough to provide higher education

in a country of 14 crore population.

There are 50 thousand private universities only in the United States, he added.

The state minister urged the authorities of private universities to upgrade their education system so that the student can get quality education staying in the country.

If local institutions can provide quality education students would not go abroad for higher education.

Mehrun N Islam, managing director of the Conference & Exhibition Management Services Ltd, was in the chair.