British Council Qatar held their Study in the UK Exhibition on the 12th – 13th March 2017 in Doha.

It offered an opportunity for students, parents, teachers and others in the education field to meet representatives of 35 UK universities and colleges in person to find out what the UK has to offer and available funding opportunities. The target audiences were primarily 16 to 21 year olds interested in higher education in the UK; professionals seeking to advance their careers; parents and key influencers.

In the evening prior to the exhibition, we had an alumni Gala Dinner that focused on two of Qatar National Vision 2030 pillars and gave an opportunity for UK delegates to network with their own alumni as well as alumni from other UK universities.  The alumni dinner was well attended by Qataris and key note speakers as well as the guest of honour, H.E. Mohammed Al-Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry, who is a graduate from the University of Manchester.

The second morning of 13th March was an optional complimentary school visit to Al-Wakra Independent Secondary School for boys, who organised their annual college and career fair, sponsored by Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO) targeted at secondary schools students aged between 16 and 18 years old.  In addition to meeting potential students, the fair provided UK institutions with a platform to network with more than 15 major scholarship providers. 

The exhibition attracted nearly 1,500 visitors+ through a variety of marketing channels and activities. We believe the key for the continuous growth in visitors’ number is mainly due to starting the promotion plan of the event with soft promotion at least 2 months prior to the exhibition while having extensive promotion in the last 10 days leading to the exhibition, utilizing key social media influencers, ensuring effective communication with school counsellors who are considered important influencers and maintaining an up-to-date contacts database of potential students (mainly recent IELTS candidates).