Spotlight

Education UK Exhibition 2007

Shayera Moula

The 9th Education UK Exhibition took place in Dhaka at the Winter Garden, Sheraton Hotel from 1st to 3rd March. Delegates from 27 universities and colleges in the UK made a visit to Bangladesh on the occasion. The exhibition permitted broad opportunities to directly speak with these representatives and inquire about their respective Universities.

In the opening ceremony hosted by Raiqah Walie Khan, Dr. June Rollinson, Director British Council welcomed the delegates and thanked them for their hard work in bringing all the materials together for this big event. She remarked that students in Bangladesh are highly recognized for their excellence in education. Events such as “The Daily Star Ceremony: Saluting the Nation Builders of tomorrow” only justifies this fact.

Professor S.M.A Faiz, Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University (DU), reflected on how many features within the educational system in DU have a background in the UK educational system.

Jonathan Verney, Deputy Director, British High Commission, added to the seriousness of learning by first removing some “myths” about UK education. He said that studying in UK is not as expensive as everyone seems to think it is. On top of that, undergraduate programs are covered in three years, not four and graduate programs are covered in one year, not two. He mentioned that the intention of the British High Commission is not to have visitors from Bangladesh but to promote “a linkage between two countries for students who actually want to go abroad for education.” He also reminisced how Tony Blair demanded education to be the priority in UK in order to build a long term relationship between England and other overseas nations. Mr. Verney jokingly remarked about how currently there are about two thousand Bengali students in UK, managing more Bangladeshi restaurants there than that here in Bangladesh!

The Education UK Exhibition was later also hosted in Chittagong at Peninsula Hotel from 5th to 6th March.