More than 130 employers, education providers and training institutions are taking part in the UAE's leading education, training and careers exhibition, Najah which opened in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, officially inaugurated the expo in the presence of ambassadors from the US, UK, France, Malaysia, Australia, Cyprus, Iran, Canada, Belarus, Romania, Thailand, and Angola.

Najah, which runs at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec) until Thursday, will see companies interact with the thousands of young Emiratis contemplating their future career direction and educational aspirations.

The popular three-day Education and Careers Forum is back offering UAE school and university students advice from regional and international experts, said the organisers. 

Highlights from the opening day were presentations from Michael Flynn, Principal Investigator at Nasa, who spoke about career options in engineering with Nasa and Ibrahim Mohammad, Emiratisation Manager and Customer Relations Manager of Schlumberger Middle East, who gave tips on how to prepare and conduct successful job interviews.

The morning session for tomorrow (October 19) at the exhibition is dedicated to female visitors, many of whom are attending to listen to the keynote presentation by celebrated UAE filmmaker Nayla Al Fahad, who will share her insights into a career in media.

Ladies wishing to pursue higher education overseas will be interested to listen to Kristen Cammarata from EducationUSA, who will be highlighting women’s colleges in the USA.

Now in its fifth year, Najah has secured UAE Presidential Guard as diamond sponsor. Other sponsors include Adnoc, Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, Alhosn University, Ajman University, and Zayed University.

“With the UAE's private sector needing to create up to 20,000 jobs a year for Emiratis in the next decade, Najah has become a crucial platform that brings together Emirati job seekers and private sector employees under one roof,” said Khurram Saeed, exhibition director.

The career expo, he said, returns with the popular psychometric assessment centre, along with the advice clinic where visitors receive one-on-one counselling on education and careers options by qualified career counsellors.

New additions for 2011 were the dedicated career workshops, delivered by Summit Career and Talent Management.

The workshops focused on job search strategy, university life preparation, and techniques on choosing the right college degrees and universities.

Najah 2011 is co-located with the three-day UAE Lead Youth Leadership Congress which features leadership workshops, keynote-speeches and various customised sessions on practically-useful skills.

The first and third day is open to all visitors with the second devoted to Women Empowerment.-TradeArabia News Service