European Union Ambassador Guy Ledoux and 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 Commissioner Minella C. Alarcon from the Commission
A ribbon-cutting ceremony coupled with the beating of the gong ceremony started the Fair which was opened to the public from 10:30 a.m. to 6pm attracting 1,746 students, faculty, academicians and education enthusiasts from all over the country.
The enthusiasm that surrounded the European Higher Education Fair (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. Twelve European countries (Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, 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.
Ambassador Ledoux said that “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. 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.”
Commissioner Minella Alarcon of CHED said that the European Higher Education Fair 2014 provides a very good option to Filipino students as they prepare to become more globally competitive.
Theme of the Fair was “Expanding Horizons”.
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, the European universities received plenty of enquiries 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 admitting four Filipinos for their Summer School 2014.