Abu Dhabi: Following a successful Dubai edition that attracted more than 7,000 visitors, Edufair returns to Abu Dhabi as families weigh an expanding range of degree programmes, overseas study destinations and career options.
Dr Deepak Mittal, Ambassador of India to the UAE, inaugurated the event, alongside the senior management of Gulf News. Dr Mittal also visited every booth at the fair to interact with the exhibitors.
“Gulf News Edufair helps residents understand the diversity of knowledge systems available in the UAE. It is not just about learning, but also about cultural exposure and understanding different perspectives,” said Dr Mittal
With nearly 200 nationalities living in the UAE, classrooms in the country benefit from a rich mix of cultures and perspectives, according to Dr Deepak Mittal.
This diversity, he noted, “enriches learning, promotes cultural understanding and strengthens a sense of belonging” in a multicultural society like the UAE.
Dr Mittal described education as a key pillar of the strategic partnership between the UAE and India.
"I am glad that several Indian higher education institutions, including IIT Delhi Abu Dhabi and the IIM Ahmedabad campus in Dubai, along with other private universities, have opened here and are supporting the education sector," he added.
From oil to innovation
The old road from classroom to degree to career has been ripped up and repaved. Today’s students are navigating a shifting terrain, where artificial intelligence is rewriting job descriptions, new industries spring up faster than curricula can follow, and opportunity increasingly knows no borders.
“If we invest in innovation now, after 50 years, we will not be depending on oil,” said Dr Eesa Al Bastaki, President, University of Dubai, “we will be depending on innovation.”
He added that in the future students will learn from anywhere, any time and from any faculty on any device, 24/7 open learning.
Vijay Vaghela, CEO of Gulf News, said the core of Edufair Abu Dhabi is to embrace AI while pursuing their individual goals.
“The core of the future is a combination of using the tools that are available to us to develop and expand our reach across society, and develop everything around us in terms of economy, education, child development,” he said.
The fair provided a one- stop solution to students and parents, exploring options in undergraduate courses, career preparations and study abroad opportunities alongside postgraduate professional courses.
"Edufair is back in Abu Dhabi. We've got a wide range of really exceptional universities. The future, whether you want to do medicine, engineering, architecture, whatever it is that interests you," said Vijay Vaghela describing the massive selection at the fair.
Skills first, careers next
As artificial intelligence (AI), data science and other tech-led fields expand, picking a university now means looking closely at the skills a course builds and the career paths it opens up.
Dr Al Bastaki views the implementation of AI quite differently for the students of this generation. “Human beings will always be there to be at the top because we use our brain randomly. AI uses deterministically,” Dr Al Bastaki said.
For students and parents trying to read this fast-changing map, Gulf News Edufair Abu Dhabi, opens doors to its latest edition gathering universities and a roster of career experts to ask what learning really means today, and what it will take to thrive tomorrow.
“Education sector has developed a lot, leaped to new ways of educating students” said Dr Bastaki.
As the lines between classroom and career continue to blur, Edufair Abu Dhabi gave families a place to ask the right questions before making one of the biggest decisions of a young person’s life.