Organized by the Campus France agency, partner of the INTERREG-Caraïbes ELAN project, with the support of the project team and of all the partners who contribute to the implementation and financing of ELAN and thanks to the involvement of our fifty exhibitors, as well as speakers and panellists who presented workshops and webinars, the 1st virtual student fair for the Caribbean, was a major highlight of ELAN’s agenda.
This virtual fair, took place on December 2nd and 3rd, 2020 and aimed to connect higher education and training institutions in the region with pupils, students, parents, vocational training trainees, teachers and instructors from the French Antilles-Guyana region, the English-speaking Caribbean and Haiti.
Thanks to the participation of exhibitors who provided varied and multi-media documentation (brochures, videos, photos, etc.), visitors were able to learn about the training offer available within the cooperation area which defines the geographical scope of the ELAN project (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti and the English-speaking Caribbean).
Some key figures
- 2 days
- 50 booths
- 1400 visitors
- 4 workshops and 6 webinars (English and French) in live broadcast, presented by 20 speakers and panellists
- 40 participants on average per session
- all 15 territories of the ELAN cooperation area represented
This new form of student fair – 100% virtual – still unprecedented in the region, was a challenge that the partners of the ELAN project were able to meet, to the greatest satisfaction of visitors. In fact, according to an anonymous survey of the fair visitors, around 85% of those polled considered the organization of the trade fair to be “good” or “excellent”.
Some visitors also pointed out that the fair was a great opportunity to bring together all of the region’s education stakeholders in the same space: “This fair was absolutely amazing and should be a yearly event. This is truly a great way to bring together students to the institutions in the Caribbean and a wonderful platform which breaks language barriers to present limitless opportunities.”
Another visitor particularly appreciated the bilingual workshops and webinars and said that they “[…] liked the fact that the webinars/workshops were in English and French. « Moi je viens de Ste. Lucie donc je parle anglais mais je pense que tout ce qui a été présenté, était en effet, très facile à comprendre pour moi. Merci beaucoup et j’espère [que] ces ateliers auront lieu cette année 2021 ». “I come from St Lucia therefore I speak English but I think that everything that was presented was indeed very easy for me to understand. Thank you very much and I hope [that] these workshops will take place this year 2021”.
Et maintenant ?
Following the success of this first edition, the partners of the ELAN project are already mobilized to prepare an edition in 2021 with, once again the objective of allowing as many visitors as possible to learn about the study and training offers available in the Caribbean and to prepare their mobility projects.
Throughout the year, the ELAN team will continue to make available the very rich resources that made the fair a success. Videos of the workshops and webinars are already available on our youtube channel here and they will also be made available on our website and our social media (facebook, intagram, twitter). Information concerning the education and training institutions present during the fair will also be regularly updated on our regional map of education and training offers, available here.
We extend a heartfelt thank you to all those who made it possible to make this first edition, in the midst of the health crisis, a successful event! While waiting for the new edition of the Student Fair, planned as part of the ELAN project, where we hope to meet you all, do not hesitate to follow the news of the project on our site, our social media and – from now on – on our newsletter.