ASCEND – International Education Fair 2026
10 April 2026, Friday
10 April 2026, Friday
11:00 AM
01:00 PM
International Office, IILM University, Gurugram
IILM University, Gurugram
IILM University, Gurugram
ASCEND — International Education Fair 2026, held on 10th April 2026 at IILM University, Gurugram, was a flagship internationalisation initiative that convened 28 globally recognised institutions across 8 countries — the USA (6 institutions including Indiana University Indianapolis, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Fordham University, Grand Valley State University, University of Denver – Daniels College of Business, and Syracuse University), the UK (8 institutions including Queen’s University Belfast, Arts University Bournemouth, University of Law, University of Brighton, University of Sussex, Buckinghamshire New University, University of Liverpool, and British Council), Ireland (2), France (7), Finland (1), Switzerland (2), Austria (1), and Estonia (1) — creating a high-impact ecosystem for student exposure and strategic partnership development.
The event attracted a total of 477 student participants — comprising 347 IILM students and 130 school students from Banyan Tree School and DPS — with the deliberate inclusion of school students representing a strategic expansion of early-stage international awareness outreach and reinforcing IILM’s positioning as a gateway to global education for students at multiple stages of their academic journeys.
The fair’s multidisciplinary institutional representation — spanning business, technology, design, hospitality, and emerging fields — enabled students to explore global academic pathways across a wide range of disciplines in a single structured event, providing a uniquely comprehensive and time-efficient exposure to international higher education options that would otherwise require multiple separate interactions.
The event was executed in a structured format combining a three-hour International Education Fair (10:30–13:30) with a Strategic Networking Lunch (13:30–14:30), ensuring that both student-facing engagement and institutional networking received dedicated, well-structured time — maximising value creation for students and international partners alike, and reinforcing ASCEND’s character as a strategic internationalisation platform rather than a conventional education fair.
ASCEND 2026 generated measurable institutional outcomes across four dimensions: partnership development through strengthening of existing collaborations and initiation of new institutional linkages; enhancement of the student mobility pipeline through progression pathways and international admissions potential; brand enhancement by positioning IILM as a key facilitator of international education engagement; and the opening of avenues for joint programmes, faculty exchange, and collaborative academic initiatives.
A total of 477 students — including 347 IILM students and 130 school students from Banyan Tree School and DPS — gained direct, firsthand access to representatives from 28 internationally recognised institutions across 8 countries, enabling them to explore diverse global academic pathways, admission processes, and international career opportunities in a single high-impact event.
Students engaged directly with institutional representatives from premier global universities across the USA, UK, Ireland, France, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, and Estonia, spanning disciplines including business, technology, design, hospitality, and emerging fields — providing a breadth of international exposure that meaningfully informs and diversifies their understanding of higher education options worldwide.
The inclusion of school students from Banyan Tree School and DPS in the fair created early-stage international awareness and aspirational engagement for younger learners — positioning international education as an accessible and actively supported pathway and encouraging more informed and strategically considered future academic decisions.
Strong and sustained footfall recorded across all institutional booths reflected high levels of student interest and active participation — indicating that students approached the fair with genuine curiosity and purpose, and that the structured format effectively facilitated meaningful, substantive interactions rather than passive attendance.
The Strategic Networking Lunch provided students with the additional benefit of informal engagement in an environment that builds interpersonal confidence and practises the professional networking skills increasingly valued in global academic and career contexts — reinforcing that ASCEND 2026 contributed to holistic professional development alongside its primary function of expanding international academic awareness.