Al Ain: In celebration of the UAE’s 41st National Day, the Expo team this week had launched outreach programmes at two of the nation’s public universities to encourage students and academic faculty to participate in the country’s bid to welcome the world on the eve of its Golden Jubilee.

To increase awareness and generate support for the country’s Expo 2020 bid, the Expo team hosted a kiosk on the campus of UAE University in Al Ain, in conjunction with the university’s National Day ceremonies.

This kiosk highlighted to students how hosting the Expo would create new opportunities for young people to think, explore and connect with the global community while learning first-hand about innovative solutions to the world’s biggest challenges.

The Expo team also hosted an informational kiosk at Zayed University in Dubai, providing visitors with further information about World Expos and how they can be part of this truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This initiative follows the university’s recently launched Expo poster competition, which asks students to visually interpret what Expo – and the UAE – means to them.

These programmes are part of an ongoing series of initiatives designed to generate support for the UAE’s Expo bid among the country’s academic community. The Expo team has recently hosted similar programmes at the American University in Dubai, the Canadian University in Dubai, the University of Wollongong in Dubai and the British University in Dubai. These events are part of a continuing series of outreach initiatives designed to raise nationwide awareness of the country’s Expo bid among diverse communities, including young people.

Dubai, UAE, is competing against four other candidate cities bidding to host the 2020 World Expo, including Ayutthaya (Thailand); Ekaterinburg (Russia); Izmir (Turkey); and Sao Paulo (Brazil).

The winning city will be announced in November 2013 following a vote by the 161 member nations of the Bureau International des Expositions – the international body responsible for overseeing the bidding, selection and organisation of World Expos.