EU education fair attracts 1,746 students, educators

MANILA, Philippines —  European Union Ambassador Guy Ledoux and fellow top dilomats from member states as well as officials from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) opened the biggest ever European Higher Education Fair (EHEF) on Saturday at Intercon Hotel, Makati City.

EU Member States Ambassadors Gilles Garachon (France), Massimo Roscigno (Italy), Asif Ahmad (United Kingdom), Jaroslav Olša, Jr., (Czech Republic), Luis Calvo (Spain),  Chargés d'affaires  Pia Heide Salman (Denmark), Deputy Ambassador Ruth Emmerink (Netherlands),  Deputy Head of Mission Mr Michael Hasper (Germany) Deputy Head of Mission Mr Spyridon Pagkratis (Greece), Counsellor  Mr Michel Villar (France) together with CHED Commissioner Minella Alarcon led the ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the Fair to the public.

The event, themed "Expanding Horizons," attracted 1,746 students, faculty, academicians and education enthusiasts from all over the country.

"The enthusiasm EHEF in previous years has led to a growing number of European Higher Education Institutions participating reaching a total of 44 this year from 24 in 2012 and 34 in 2013," the EU Delegation to the Philippines said in a statement.

Twelve European countries—Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom—joined the fair, with Belgium and Denmark joining for the first time.

EU Ambassador Guy Ledoux cited the excellence, quality and diversity offered by the higher education institutions from the European Union.

"I believe it is fair to say that no other continent can offer the mix of diversity and quality of higher education establishments that Europe can," Ledoux said. "Whether it is cutting-edge campuses in the heart of our bustling cities or ancient campuses in magical towns steeped in history, Europe can offer it all to the Filipino students."

Alarcon said, meanwhile, that the European Higher Education Fair 2014 provides a very good option to Filipino students as they prepare to become more globally competitive.

Once again the main drive of the Fair was to give Filipino students the opportunity to find out the endless opportunities offered by European universities and to get immediate and direct answers from their representatives who have travelled all the way from the European Union.

Recognizing that boosting one's language proficiency could be vital ahead of studying abroad for the first time this year the five biggest EU Cultural Institutes—Goethe-Institut Philippinen, Alliance Française de Manille, Instituto Cervantes de Manila, Societa Dante Alighieri and the Philippine Italian Association—held language classes for the visitors during the day.

In last year’s fair, involved European universities received plenty of inquiries from Filipino students, including Tomas Bata University in Czech Republic that received several applications for their post-graduate degrees, and Montpellier Business School in France which admitted four Filipinos for their Summer School 2014.

Partners of the European Higher Education Fair 2014 included Philstar.com, The Filipino Expat and BusinessWorld.