Dubai: Organisers of the autumn Gulf Education and Training Exhibition (Getex) are calling for increased awareness of the importance of vocational education options as Arab student interest remains low.
These sentiments were expressed by Anselm Godinho, Managing Director of International Conferences and Exhibitions (ICE), the organisers of Getex, at the opening yesterday at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
"All of us in the UAE have to recognise there is someone who will have to take on the role of plumbers and electricians, which is not a profession to look down on," said Godinho.
"To build a sustainable workforce we need to have vocational training options available at the school level, because if Emirati and Arab nationals enter these fields it will have a direct benefit on the economy," he added.
He added that decreased interest in the science fields by student visitors as they shift their focus onto business has been a noticeable trend over the past couple of years.
Good thing
"If we don't develop interest in the sciences to a sustainable workforce we will constantly be dependant on importing labour which is not a good thing for the country's 10-year plan," added Godinho.
With nearly 500 university courses on offer and 50 higher education exhibitors participating at this year's autumn leg of Getex, Godinho expects to see almost 4,000 visitors, a significant increase from last years 2,700 visitors.
"The response has been good so far, we've seen five school trips and nearly 450 students already," he said at the opening.
The autumn edition of Getex has been running for three years to complement the flagship exhibition that has been taking place every spring for the past 23 years.
Fill a gap
"We thought that by creating an autumn event we could fill a gap for those universities that feel the April show is too late for them to recruit students," added Godinho.
Last year's spring edition of Getex saw a 30,000 visitor turnout, at what is designed to be a one-stop-shop for all things higher education.
However, the recent introduction of the smaller autumn event is mainly to cater to the 18 different secondary school curriculums on offer in the UAE.
"There are 18 secondary school curriculums being practised in the UAE and because there is no standard curriculum that cuts across the board, having a show that caters to all curriculums is difficult," he said.
"[Because] the higher and lower education market is not standardised, it's hard to position any education event to be in the optimum place at the right time as we have to be sensitive to exams and holidays," said Godinho.
Preffered choice
1. Business & Finance2. Engineering3. Marketing4. Medicine5. Media Studies
Visit GETEX:-
When: until Tuesday Nov 2Where: at the Dubai World Trade Centre, hall 5Time: from 10am-2pm and 5-9pm on all days
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