29 October 2001

2001 China (Beijing) International Education Exhibition, 20 - 22 October

More than 50 major institutions or research and education are located in Beijing.

Beijing, capital city of the People's Republic of China, has a population of 12 million. Beijing had been the ruling center of China for several kingdoms and dynasties, and it has remained to be the center of China's political and cultural life in addition to its role as a major trading center and a place of strategic importance.

As the national capital, Beijing has grown rapidly in commercial and service activities in recent years. It provides a modern service industry, which comprises sectors that provide the services of government administration, enterprise management, services needed by people in their lives, legal services, and such other services as accounting, surveying, advertising, consulting, tourism, retailing, leasing and material flow.

Beijing has a lot of high-grade colleges and universities. The most prominent institutions are Peking University, founded in 1898 and Tsinghua University, founded in 1911, which is the most prestigious scientific and technical institution in the country. Both institutions are located in the northwest suburbs, an area associated with higher education and scientific research. Also in this area are the People's University, founded in 1937, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, founded in 1949. A lot of newly established universities and institutes have achieved world reputation, such as Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, North Jiaotong University and Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

This year's International Education Exhibition was organized by the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), a national non- governmental non-profit organization promoting the development of international exchange for Chinese education. The 3-day exhibition, held at the Beijing International Conventional Center (BICC) attracted nearly 200 universities and organizations from about 25 countries. The guest of honor at the opening ceremony was Mr. Lu Fu Yuan, Deputy Minister of Education, PRC. Representatives from the Australian, New Zealand, Canada and German embassies as well as educational representatives from Korea, Thailand, India, Finland, Sweden, and Germany were present.

This exhibition comes hard on the heels of Beijing's successful bid to host the 2008 Olympics, and probably a few weeks before China is officially admitted to the WTO. Between now and 2007, Beijing will invest 180 billion yuan (about S$36 billion) in 127 urban development and public utility projects as part of an effort to fulfill its pledge to stage the best-ever Olympics. Construction will soon start on the Olympic Village, an ultra-modern 80-hectare facility planned to accommodate more than 20,000 international athletes. Such a construction boom will be unprecedented in Beijing, according to Municipal Officials. Already one can see all over the city, stickers indicating A New Beijing, A New Olympics. With Beijing playing host to hundreds of thousands of spectators from all over the world during the 2008 Olympics, Beijing folks are flocking to the International Education Fair to see what opportunities they have for higher education overseas so that they can return prepared for the opportunities that the Olympics will bring. The 2008 Olympics is accelerating Beijing's process of modernization and education is playing a key role.

EASB took a single 9 square meter booth which was swarmed with enthusiastic visitors the first morning on the 20 October, a Saturday. The booth was manned by Stefani Xu and James Liu, our China representatives as well as Andrew Chua, Steven Koh and F T Liu from Singapore, who arrived in Beijing on 19 October. It was estimated that about 10,000 people turned up for the 3-day exhibition. EASB prepared 1,000 sets of flyers which ran out by the morning of the third day! Many parents came with the objective of finding a suitable overseas program for their only child.

An enthusiastic crowd turned up for the education preview on Sunday at the Continental Hotel, Beijing. James Liu, EASB's General Manager for PRC Operations, took pains to elaborate on the uniqueness of the EASB offering. F T Liu followed with the update on EASB's eLearning portal, GeUN and how it offers superior student services, online curriculum and student administration. One of the parents came armed with his daughter's certificates ready to enroll immediately! Such was the enthusiasm of the crowd.

Many visitors left behind their contact details for follow-up by Stefani Xu, our China Representative, who will be contacting the interested students and make the necessary arrangements for them to join the January 2002 intake in Singapore.