JEDDAH: There was a last-minute rush of students and parents at Meetes’09, the 14th Middle East Education, Training, Equipment and Solutions exhibition and symposium, which ended last night at the Jeddah Center for Forums and Events after a successful four-day run.

Most of the 72 overseas universities and a few local ones at the event said a majority of students were keen to study business management.

The craze for MBA courses was so great that by evening most of the universities had exhausted their brochures and application forms. The next in demand were English language courses, according to a cross-section of exhibitors interviewed.

A total of 15,000 people, including students, parents, teachers, professors, professionals and business executives, visited the four-day event, according to Zahoor Siddique, exhibitions director at Al-Harithy Company for Exhibitions Ltd., which organized the annual event. Lectures by academics and experts were held alongside the exhibition, which were attended by a number of students. “I attended all lectures on all the days and they were very useful,” said Ibrahim Altamimi, a high school student from Mahjer district.

“I got some real good tips on how to select my academic career and also the right institution for pursuing my interests,” he added.

Mubarak Tami, general manager for national training at Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), was one of those who delivered lectures. He urged the student community to take advantage of TVTC’s 648 training centers that operate across the Kingdom. They have 67,000 trainees at present.

“Certificates and diplomas issued by TVTC training centers are on par with those given by the Ministry of Higher Education,” he added.

He also provided guidelines for those who would like to venture into starting training centers, “but they should be licensed and should meet the TVTC’s quality standards,” he said.

The Swiss Hotel Management School (SHMS) was one of the two such schools represented at the Swiss pavilion. “Going by the number of inquiries we had, there seems to be a growing interest among young Saudis to join such schools in Switzerland,” a representative of SHMS said.

Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, which promotes German Academic Exchange Service, was prominent at the German pavilion providing information to students interested in studying in Germany.

Medical University of Bahrain showcased how it had brought Ireland’s world-class standards of medical education to the Middle East.