EDEX - National Higher Education and Careers EXPO

For the school leavers of today, the world is a swirl of options to choose from, be it higher education, professional qualifications or employment. Information on these choices are varied and sometimes from conflicting sources. The EDEX 2008 National Higher Education and Careers Expo organized by the Royal College Union aspires to cater to the needs of this age-group by displaying the full range of options available.

Many education fairs are extremely helpful to students, with the one disadvantage being that most fairs are often carried out in Colombo. EDEX however is the only twin mega exhibition to be held in both Colombo and Kandy. The Kandy leg of the fair will be held at the Queen’s Hotel, Kandy on January 22-23, officials told the media.

This 5th EDEX aspires to be bigger and better than the earlier ones. Operations will be carried across three main pavilions; Domestic Education, International Education, and Careers/ Recruitment. The education fair will feature over 350 universities and higher educational institutes from over 16 countries including United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Russia, Japan, Bangladesh, India, China, Nepal, Switzerland, Cyprus, France, New Zealand and Malaysia.

Along with information on the courses available, students will also be informed of the requirements for scholarships awarded by them. ‘On site’ spot admission for the institutions will be carried out as well. As an extra incentive, some foreign missions are scheduled to be present to furnish parents with the necessary details on student visas and other information about the country their child hopes to study in.

On the careers and recruitment front, students will be able to hand in their CV’s to representatives to be entered into their data base. Lectures on simple yet essential topics like “How to prepare a CV” and “How to face a job interview successfully”, which should be indispensable to any student entering the job market, will also be held.

The venture is being supported by many strategic partners including the Ceylon Chambers of Commerce (CCC). Speaking at the briefing, Secretary General of the CCC Prema Cooray said that from a corporate point of view, the CCC will be present to give career guidance to those students who have not passed their basic examination. The American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) has also pledged its support as a strategic partner. Although they deal mainly with trade, education is considered to be an essential requirement for the forming of the perfect corporate citizen.

Indrajith Wickremasinghe, Vice president Corporate Affairs of the official bank for the fair, NDB Bank, said they will be present to help the students in their own capacity. “NDB Bank by being involved is involved with the next generation of the nation through fostering higher education”. The bank will be providing special student loan services at the fair as well as education personal loans. Training and job opportunities available in the growing sector of IT/BPO industry will be done by Silver Sponsor, Virtusa,

Co- Silver sponsors E-soft will be conducting programmes on the new O/Level ICT syllabus, Edexcel Higher national diplomas and corporate IT training divisions. EDEX is accessible on the web via www.edex.lk and the web portal is linked to the government internet-kiosk programme “Nenasela” and also the “Schoolnet” service. (TR)