The three-day International Education Show started at Expo Centre Sharjah on Wednesday. Speaking at the inauguration, Fawzia Hassan Gareeb, Assistant Under-Secretary for Education Operations in the Ministry of Education, told Gulf News that the show is a leading higher education event that provides a platform to showcase higher education opportunities for students across emirates. Gareeb said the UAE has earmarked Dh8 billion for the education budget for 2011-2012 as part of its commitment to further enhance education standards. Around 60-70 leading local, regional and international educational institutions are showcasing their undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, vocational training programmes, short-term certificate courses and other programmes at the event.