LAHORE, March 3: Hundreds of students visited the two-day Education Expo 2005 and sought information about the programmes being offered by different local and foreign universities.

Around 63 universities and higher education institutes, 32 of those foreign, had set up their stalls at the Education Expo organized by the Dawn Group of Newspapers. Students gleaned information about requirements for submitting applications, visas, expenditure for studies, scholarships and job opportunities.

Representatives of different institutes also conducted seminars to inform the students about their programmes. They told Dawn that the students had made queries about their programmes and visas, scholarships and openings abroad. Students were interested in joining market-oriented subjects like MBA, MPA, information technology, accountancy and finance, engineering and telecommunication, besides specializations in different fields.

A UK university consultant said most of the students had asked him one simple question: "How can we reach the UK (for education)?"

Another foreign university consultant said almost 90 per cent of the visiting students seemed not to afford fees for various programmes and wanted to know about scholarships or jobs. He suggested that the financial institutions in Pakistan should provide soft loans to the bright middle-class students.

The exhibition was also held in Karachi on Feb 27 and 28 last. It will travel to Islamabad on March 5 and 6. Last year, the Education Expo was held in Karachi only where it had attracted 70 universities and higher education institutes from all over Pakistan, Australia, Ireland, Malaysia, United Kingdom and the UAE.