UPD holds study abroad fair -

More than 600 students signed up, with many more walking in, for the study abroad fair LAYAG: Lumipad at Mamayagpag sa Ibayong Dagat (LAYAG), the first in-person study abroad fair of the Office of International Linkages Diliman (OILD) since 2019.

“Things were very uncertain for several semesters, but finally we are here and no one is more excited than our office in welcoming you all to today’s opening and week-long event,” said Carlene Perpetua Pilar-Arceo, PhD.

Arceo is the director of OILD.

Meanwhile, UP Diliman (UPD) Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo emphasized the importance of hands-on, holistic learning in the development of UPD students.

(From left) Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Louise Jashil R. Sonido, Pilar-Arceo, Polish Minister Counselor and Deputy Head of Mission Anna Krzak-Danel, STAT Dean Joseph Ryan Lansangan, Kazi, Nemenzo, and Marcos Octavio Vara Jacobo, head for economic-commercial, promotion, international cooperation and cultural affairs of the Embassy of Mexico in the Philippines. Photo by Jefferson Villacruz, UPDIO

“We’ve been wanting to open the campus to F2F (face-to-face) classes because we always tell them that education takes place not only in the classroom or your Zoom meetings. Our entire campus is a classroom. With the opening of this fair, we’re telling our students that education does not only take place in our campus, the entire world is our campus. Encouraging our students to study overseas is very much part of our mission because we think that when you study overseas, you really get a lot of insights not only about other countries but about your own country as well,” he said.

Held from Feb. 21 to 24 at the School of Statistics (STAT) building lobby, LAYAG aims to aid students looking for opportunities to study abroad.

*A scene at the fair on its first day. Photo by Jefferson Villacruz, UPDIO*

The fair had booths featuring the many institutions with ongoing partnerships with UPD.

Ambassador of Pakistan to the Philippines Imtiaz A. Kazi encouraged the students present to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by UPD and its partner institutions.

LAYAG featured partner institutions based in Europe and the Americas (Education USA; Fulbright Philippines; German Academic Exchange Service/DAAD; Goethe-Institut Philippinen; Campus France; Philippine Italian Association; Societá Dante Alighieri-Comitato di Manila; Royal Danish Embassy Manila; Embassy of Hungary-MATE University; Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Manila; and the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines) and partner institutions from the Philippines’ neighbors in Asia and Oceania (Hokkaido University; UP Confucius Institute; the Japan Information and Culture Center; The Embassy of Japan; Australia Awards Philippines; Edith Cowan University; Macquarie University; University of Wollongong; National University of Singapore/NUS Enterprise; and the Education Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines; Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia).

Information sessions and talks were also held in the afternoon at the adjacent STAT auditorium. The sessions featured introductions to the partner institutions and testimonials from exchange students in UPD. Also present were current and former UPD faculty and students who attended the same institutions through the OILD programs.

Students