Potential students at Executive College.
Students join the queue snaking through the main concourse to register.
Motivational speaker Dr Lu speaks to over 200 students on the topic ‘Education Opened Doors For Me’.
A staff of UCSI University counsels students on courses offered by the university.
General operations manager of The Borneo Post and Utusan Borneo, Phyllis Wong presents a souvenir to Datuk Fatimah during the launch of BPIEF.
Fatimah presents a souvenir to Dr Pita Sharples, New Zealand associate minister for education and corrections and Maori Affairs minister during the launch of BPIEF.
A section of volunteers on the first day of BPIEF 2014 at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching.
Winners of Category A (Pri 1-3), Category B (Pri 4-6) and Category C (age 13 and above) of the Bicycle Race with the organisers. Hampers were sponsored by Nestle that also provided students with Milo and Kokokrunch.
BPIEF event manager Caren Christine Yee (right) hands over to lucky draw winner Chai Shuk Shing a Stihl pressure pump sponsored by KTS Trading.
KUCHING: The 5th Borneo Post International Education Fair (BPIEF) ended on Sunday with 8,406 registered visitors and about 2,500 unregistered visitors, an increase of over 30 per cent from last year.
Parents and their children came from all over Sarawak and as far as Labuan and Kalimantan to meet up with the 88 institutions manning 119 booths to register students who had just received their STPM and SPM results.
Education New Zealand made an impressive second showing at BPIEF with 14 institutions ranging from universities and specialist colleges, concluding a colourful week on New Zealand culture and education, starting with New Zealand Week from March 18 to 23.
Other exhibitors like Yayasan Sarawak, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, Curtin University Sarawak, newcomer Executive College, UCSI University, Kolej Sunway, University of Reading and University of Southampton went to great lengths to make a good showing this year, brightening up the education fair with their eye-catching booth designs.
There were at least 16 talks lined up alongside the event, starting with an inspirational talk by Dr Lu Huong Ying, chief operating officer of UCSI University and Dato Dr Tiki Lafe, director of Allianze University College of Medical Sciences, Sarawak Office who spoke on ‘Education Opened Doors For Me’.
BPIEF brought in a speaker from Singapore, Kimberly Loong from MSL Consultancy who talked to preschool teachers and parents on ‘Establishing Early Literacy Skills in Preschoolers with a Multisensory Approach’.
Other activities held alongside the education fair included a two-day blood donation drive by Sarawak General Hospital, the Next Big Chef Superstar Competition organised by UCSI University, and the BPIEF 2014 bicycle race.
BPIEF, a corporate social responsibility project of The Borneo Post, is organised to complement the state government’s effort in education for all by bringing in various institutions from around the world so students and parents, including working adults, can have easy access to information on the options for furthering studies or getting certified for skills acquired for the job.
The Borneo Post and the committee thanked the state government, BPIEF patron Datuk Fatimah Abdullah, Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development who also holds the Watching Brief for Education in Sarawak; exhibitors and all those who have helped make it Borneo’s premier education fair.
To keep updated on the next BPIEF, visit bpief.com or ‘like’ BPIEF on fb.bpief.com.