Spring 2005 Middle East Fair

Country and educational briefing done by AMIDEAST Jordan Country Director, Michael Clark.

Mr. J. Steven Ramirez, Public Diplomacy Officer from the US Embassy in Jordan set up a table at the fair.

The fair was held in the Four Seasons ballroom.

Attendance at Amman fair

1100 students attended the fair
40% Undergraduate
60% Graduate

85% of the students were Jordanian
15% of the students were expats.
(Most of the expats were Iraqi and Palestinians. Several Iraqi students drove from Basra to come to the fair)

Mrs. Nseibeh (mini fair at school)
Modern American School

Country and Educational briefing done by Ms. Susan Daniel, Educational Advisor, AMIDEAST

Speech on education and the USEG fair in Lebanon by Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy Beirut, Lebanon; Christopher W. Murray, web link to speech.

In Mr. Murray's speech he mentioned that most visas are granted in 24 hours "most of our applicants receive their visas on the same day they apply." Quote taken from Monday, February 21, 2005 speech at the Movenpick Hotel - 5:00 p.m.

Press conference with 8 different media outlets, including TV, Radio and newspaper.

DCM Mr. Murray cut ribbon to open fair in Beirut.

Beirut fair was two nights. First night about 100 students came to the fair.(Same evening there was a candle light vigil for former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri)

Second evening about 400 students came to the fair. (Last years attendance was over 3000 for both nights)

The fair was held in the Movenpic ballroom.

Attendance at Amman fair

500 students attended the fair
50% Undergraduate
50% Graduate

85% of the students were Lebanese
15% of the students were expats. (Most of the expats were Palestinian)

Mr. Paul Thompson (Counselor visit only)
International College

Ms. Carol Easton (mini fair at school) American Community School at Beirut

Country and educational briefing done by Ms. Samar F. Hasan, Educational Advisor, US Embassy

Visa Briefing by Ms. Larilyn L. Reffett, and Ms. Rebecca Fong, Consular Officers, US Embassy

Ms. Reffett and Ms. Fong explained that most Bahraini visas are processed in 24 hours as long as the students name is not on a watch list and everything else on the application is in order.

Both consular officers set up a table at the fair to answer student's visa questions.

Mr. Bryon K. Koontz, Jr., Vice Consul at the US Consulate in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia attended the fair.

The fair was held in the Sheraton ballroom.

Attendance at Manama fair

1000 students attended the fair
65% Undergraduate
35% Graduate

70% of the students were Bahraini
30% of the students were expats.
(Most of the expats were Indian and Saudi, the Saudi students drove from Dhahran, which is about 30 minutes away)

Country and educational briefing done by Ms. Dahlia M Al-Riyami, Educational Advisor, US Embassy

In Ms. Al-Riyami presentation she showed a graphic that explained 98% of all Omani applicants that applied for an F1 visa received the visa, she mentioned that the 2% denial rate was because the applicants did not have the appropriate financial guarantee.

Mr. Charles G. Cole, Public Affairs Office at the US Embassy Muscat attended the fair.

Ambassador Richard L. Baltimore III wrote an Opinion piece about US education and our fair in particular in the February 24, 2005 edition of the Times of Oman.

The fair was held in the Grand Hyatt ballroom.

Attendance at Muscat fair

1000 students attended the fair
60% Undergraduate
40% Graduate

50% of the students were Omani
50% of the students were expats. (Most of the expats were Indian.)

Mr. Richard Modica (mini Fair at school)
University Advisor
American British Academy

Mr. Paul Everitt (mini fair at school)
Muscat Private School

We only did school visits and a briefing at the US Consulate. (mini fairs at each school)

Briefing at US Consulate by:
Mr. Peter Neisuler, Public Affairs Officer
Ms. Kari Paetzold, Visa Officer
Ms. Dina Kanan, Educational Advisor

Country and educational briefing done by Mrs. Bahar Haji-zada, Director, US Azerbaijani Educational Center.

Before the fair I went to the Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington, DC to set up meetings with the Ministry of Education in Baku.

In Baku we met with Deputy Minister of Education, Elmar E. Qasimov for talks on partnerships with American universities. He set up several meeting with different university presidents in Baku.

As a bonus the Azeri Embassy in Washington, DC set up a meeting with Ambassador Vaqif Sadiqov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was looking for universities to help train young Azeri diplomats. Monterey Institute of International Studies was there to fill in the void.
Bahar set up a tour of Baku.

The fair was held in the library of the US Azerbaijan Educational Office.

Attendance at Baku fair

700 students attended the fair
50% Undergraduate
50% Graduate

100% of the students were Azeri

School-Lyceum "Intellect"
Director: Kuliyeva Jeyran

Mr. Ilhan Altintas, Counselor
Baku Private Turkish School

At the Baku Private Turkish School the counselor is sending 15 to 20 students a year to US Universities. He is doing all of this on his own and is almost randomly selecting the schools. He asked our group for help and any other universities that would like to contact him.

After the fair the US Embassy gave us a reception at the hotel. The reception was attended by many Azeri university presidents, the Azeri Minister of Education and the US Embassy educational staff.

Ms. Afet Ibrahimova is the Educational Assistant at the US Embassy in Baku

Azerbaijan is a great new recruiting area for American schools.

Country and educational briefing done by Ms. Erin L Eddy, Public Affairs Officer, US Consulate, Jeddah

It was told to us by the Consul that the F1 visa for Saudi students takes about 2 weeks to a month. Most of the visas are on the 2 weeks side.

Ms. Eddy came to the fair to support our group.

The fair was held in the Jeddah Convention Center and is a multi national fair. From March 6th to the 9th

Attendance at Jeddah fair

5000 or more students attended the fair
55% Undergraduate
45% Graduate

70% of the students were Saudi
30% of the students were expats. (Most of the expats were Indian and Pakistani)