EdCIL (India) Limited held a press conference today (14th Oct, 2010) at the Indian Cultural Centre in coordination with the High Commission of India to announce their participation in the Education Fair ‘Adyapana 2010’. The Fair is being held at ‘Srimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Exhibition’ Centre, BMICH from 15th – 17th Oct, 2010.

Speaking at the conference Mr N.S. Padmanabhan, Chief General Manager of EdCIL said, the group of Indian institutes /universities led by EdCIL, is the largest foreign participant in Adyapana this year with 16 stalls (15 plus EdCIL) out of a total of about 30 foreign ones.

Indian High Commissioner Mr. Ashok K. Kantha, in a message facilitating India’s participation, said through this education fair, India encourages the students in Sri Lanka to explore our country as an attractive and cost-effective destination to pursue quality higher education. Mr. Kantha said, India has one of the most advanced infrastructures for education with over 350 university-level educational institutions and more than 16,000 colleges in India.

The High Commissioner informed, in his message, that nearly 40,000 international students, including about 2,500 Sri Lankans, are currently enrolled in Indian universities. Of these, nearly 700 Sri Lankan students are studying on scholarships and self-financed schemes offered by India in some of the most premier institutions.

Briefing the journalists, Mr. Padmanabhan said, EdCIL, which is incorporated under India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development, has been promoting Indian education abroad since the last 27 years, operating in over 40 countries. He stated that their organization provides a wide spectrum of service in the field of education and Human Resource consultancy. EdCIL also specializes in conceptualizing educational institutions and commissioning them in all respects (both hardware and software) depending on the need of the clients.

Mr. Padmanabhan emphasized that India’s participation in Adyapana 2010 would be a one stop shop for providing information about Indian education and facilitating the admission process for the Sri Lankan students. He said, through ADYAPANA, which is perhaps Sri Lanka’s most focused Higher Education & Career Exhibition, EdCIL brings in some of the leading reputed Universities and institutes from India under one roof.

EdCIL informed that India is planning to hold an exclusive education fair next year for the students in Sri Lanka at a much bigger scale to promote study in India. He expressed the hope that ADYAPANA-2010 will go a long way in encouraging students from Sri Lanka to come and study in India and strengthen the already existing friendly ties between the two countries.