The much talked about fourday long Ambition Education and Career Expo 2011 concluded successfully on June 6. The sixth edition of the expo captivated ambitious and careerconscious Nepali students. The number of observers to the expo increased by the day and the last day of the mega event was no exception. Besides gaining knowledge about academic options, students at the expo enjoyed an opportunity to gather information about educational options ahead.
Throughout the expo, visitors cashed in on the chance to interact with educational institutions, consultancies and other institutes in a convivial atmosphere. Over 100,000 students were benefited by the expo, which incorporated as many as 170 different stalls of domestic and foreign educational institutions.

The sixth edition of Ambition had a variety of course choices which included Information Technology, Air Hostess, Journalism, Fashion, Chartered Accountancy, Dentistry, Hotel Management, Nursing, A-Level and many more. Along with academic

and career counselling, the participating institutes also offered discounts and scholarships to the visiting students. In its eventful four days, Ambition 2011 — the biggest education and career expo — surpassed the expectations of exhibitors, while the SLC and plus two appeared students got the best bite. The education gala witnessed a shift in students’ choice from conventional subjects and courses to others like IT, Chartered Accountancy, A-Level and banking courses.
“Students were privileged to have an opportunity to choose the best from hordes of colleges, as Ambition provides a rare opportunity for visitors to access many educational institutions at one place,” opined Kashi Nath Khanal, CEO of Omega International College, adding that the expo is a convergence of students, parents and colleges.

When asked about the inclusion of students at their enquiry desks, he explained, “Students know their college best, and can thus explain about it convincingly to visitors. So, we have appointed students as volunteers to introduce the college to visitors.” However, Thaneshwor Pandey, repre

sentative of Bridgewater International College has a differing logic behind the placement of students at enquiry desks. Citing that the idea of placing students has attracted a good number of students to their stall, he said, “Visitors may not believe teachers' counselling as they may manipulate the visitors, but prospective students tend to believe the advice of current students.“ He added, “There is healthy competition among colleges and no one is forcibly pulling students except through their own creative ideas.“

Meanwhile, Amrit Thapa, representative of Softwarica College of IT and E-commerce remarked, “Ambition has set a trend among students to visit all the stalls and select the best one,“ adding that to organise such a mega event in Nepal is a great achievement in itself. “Since our college was established the previous year, we could merely introduce ourselves at the fair last year. However, the flow of students to our stall this year has been quite impressive.“

Islington College and Liverpool International Education Network were the title sponsors of this mega event, while its main sponsor was Lord Buddha Education Foundation. The expo was supported by NEF Consortium of Colleges Nepal along with 27 co-sponsors.

source: Tandukar, Surendra(2011),"Ambition wraps up with Gusto", The Himalayan Times, 7 June 2011