The existing structure for student visas in the UK provides an important backdrop for these changes. In brief, to sponsor a student visa, a UK university or school must be a registered student sponsor. This entitles the institution to issue a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) which is in turn required for the student’s visa application.

The updated published on 7 April 2026 (“Document 2: Sponsorship Duties”) includes a new section that outlines the responsibilities of sponsor-institutions pertaining to education agents.

The updated rules carry two main implications for sponsor-institutions in their work with agents.

First, agency details must now be included on the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS): “Sponsors must record agent details on the CAS where the sponsor has used an agent in the recruitment of the sponsored student.”

Second, sponsors must not only commit to the Agent Quality Framework (AQF), but be able to demonstrate that compliance: “All student sponsors using recruitment agents must retain evidence of how they are managing agents in line with the AQF and The National Code of Ethical Practice for UK Education Agents, as applicable to the school, further education, pathway and higher education sectors.”

Agency details on the CAS

Related guidance from outlines the agency details that must now be included in the CAS.

This amounts to:

• Agent company name (the formal legal name as used in the agency contract)
• Agent contact name (indicating the primary agent contract contact)
• Agent address (which refers to the specific office or branch from which the student was recruited)

The Home Office indicates otherwise that this provision applies to all cases in which the sponsoring institution was engaged with an agent on the student file, “even if this is a one-off recruitment and/or the recruitment was done without a formal ongoing contract with the agent or third party.”

In the event that a sub agent was involved with the file, the CAS must provide details of the primary agent (as opposed to the sub agent).

If an agent or advisor was engaged directly by the student for application support or other advisory, and where “that third party was not used by the sponsor as part of the recruitment process,” the agency details need not be included in the CAS.

Moving beyond voluntary compliance

The 7 April guidance effectively enshrines the Agent Quality Framework (AQF) for sponsor-institutions in the UK, a distinct progression from what has essentially been a voluntary compliance regime to this point.

The Home Office sets out that, “All student sponsors using recruitment agents must have committed to adhering to the key principles of the (AQF).”

Further, sponsors are now required to document how they are managing agents in line with the provisions of the AQF and .

What this will mean in practice is not yet clear, but it does set up a requirement for more structured and systemic reporting as to how a sponsor is in compliance with the AQF and The National Code. In broad terms, the provisions of The National Code extend additional reporting and documentation requirements to agents, along with specific training requirements, including completion of the .

Commenting on the updated guidance on , Avinav Sharma, Executive Director, Global Partnerships at MSM Unify, said:

“For agents and counsellors, the message is equally direct. If you have not completed your UK knowledge training and signed the national code of ethical practice, you are operating without the credentials this framework now demands. Your digital badge and certificate are no longer nice-to-haves. They are proof points that your sponsor partners will need to show UKVI…This is the UK government signalling that the recruitment channel will be held to the same compliance standard as the institutions themselves…Is your agency ready for this level of scrutiny?”

For additional background, please see:

• “Narrowing bands of compliance: How the UK’s new RAG system will impact international student recruitment“
• “UK’s stiffening compliance regime already having an impact on international student recruitment“
• “How the UK’s Agent Quality Framework will shape the future of agent training“
• “Who decides about quality? Education agents and the question of increased regulation“

The post UK Home Office publishes updated visa sponsor guidance for “agents and third parties” appeared first on ���Ϲ��� Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

Viewing all of that through a student lens, we have to acknowledge as a sector that in tandem with the recent surge in international student mobility, there has been an increase in reports of students having had a negative experience of study abroad. Those reports are grounded in a variety of issues, including shortages of affordable student housing, mental health concerns, poor integration into local communities, difficulty accessing support services, poor programme delivery, and sub-par graduation and career outcomes for some students.

Those reports have led to growing calls for better regulation of the sector, and they have prompted a wave of new policy settings brought forth by several national governments. New settings include enrolment caps in a number of countries – notably the Netherlands, Canada, and Australia – and a variety of new restrictions and requirements for visiting students.

Parallel to that pattern of tightened rules around international students has been a call for increased regulation of education agents. It is well established that agents play a critical role in student recruitment, and in providing invaluable support for students, parents, and institutional partners. But the education agent space is largely unregulated, operates at a considerable scale (with an estimated 22,000+ agencies worldwide), and offers few barriers for new entrants, especially in an era of aggregated agent networks and remote work.

Partly because the agent space is so large, varied, and lacking serious barriers to entry or to the expansion of agent networks, it has also been highly resistant to regulation. In practical terms, a given national government has little influence over an agency abroad that can quickly rebrand or restructure, or just as quickly shift its recruiting activity from one sector to another or from one country to another.

For all those reasons, there is a broad consensus that self-regulation – that is, measures that come from the industry itself – represents the best path forward for creating and implementing effective quality assurance measures for education agents.

The building blocks

Resistant to regulation as the agent space may be, there has, in fact, been a lot of great work done to strengthen standards of practice for education agents, and to advance the professional qualifications of agency-based student counsellors.

This work has largely occurred in three key areas: codes of conduct, agent training, and agency accreditation. There are a swirl of terms in this space, including “certification,” “accreditation,” and more. Codes of conduct, agent training, and agency training are sometimes conflated with one another, but it’s important to specify exactly what is being referred to. Each of these three components is quite distinct from – but highly complementary to – the others, and an effective self-regulation regime will combine all three.

Standards of practice

A number of codes of conduct and best practice guidelines are in place today, both pertaining to agent conduct and to the professional practices of institutions engaged with agents. Examples include the London Statement (formally, The Statement of Principles for the Ethical Recruitment of International Students by Education Agents and Consultants); the National Association for College Admission Counselling’s (NACAC) Guide to International Student Recruitment Agencies; the British Universities’ International Liaison Association’s (BUILA) National Code of Ethical Practice for UK Education Agents; the Australian Agent Code of Ethics (ACE); the Association of International Enrollment Management’s (AIRC) Best Practice Guidelines for Institutional Members; the Association of Language Travel Organisations’ (ALTO) Best Practice Guidelines for Education Providers and Agents; and the ���Ϲ��� Code of Conduct for the Ethical Recruitment of International Students.

Some codes of conduct are more oriented to one or more education sectors or to a given destination. If we were to put them side by side, however, we would find that they almost universally advance a common set of core principles, including transparency, accountability, integrity, fair dealing, and a commitment to high standards of student service on the part of education agents and also their institutional partners.

Any effort to strengthen quality standards for education agents – that is, any serious effort of self-regulation – rests in part on a clearly framed code of conduct, the standard of practice that it reflects, and a global mechanism for enforcing those standards.

An expanding field of training options

Put yourself in the shoes of a student counsellor working in an education agency. She may have studied abroad herself, or, through fam tours or other visits, have gained a firsthand experience of one or more destination countries. Alongside her knowledge of a study destination, its student visa programmes, and other relevant regulations, she also has to be an expert in any number of institutions and schools, their respective policies, and the many programmes and services they provide.

By any reckoning, that is a tremendous base of knowledge for any counsellor to establish and maintain, especially given that those programme offerings, policies, and other key points of information are changing all the time.

That explains the high demand for training among agency-based counsellors, both on best practices in recruitment and student services as well as training on advising students to study in one country or another, and of course ongoing training on individual institutions or schools.

It explains as well why many institutions invest heavily in counsellor training in support of their agent-partners, and why there is an expanding emphasis on agent training across the international education sector.

Agent training, for example, is embedded in the UK’s (AQF), a package of measures that includes specialised training courses for agency-based counsellors advising on study in the United Kingdom. And there are other specialised platforms, including , which provides a hosted solution that institutions and schools can use to deliver training for agent counsellors, and , which provides a growing portfolio of destination-focused courses along with other professional development options and qualifications for counsellors.

Within the AQF, the was developed and is administered by the British Council, and it is also delivered in partnership with ���Ϲ��� Academy. To date, 23,000 counsellors have registered for the course and nearly 10,000 have completed it and also endorsed the AQF’s code of conduct. “Until recently, the AQF was a voluntary framework where UK universities pledged to meet the standards set to evidence their good conduct,” says Jacqui Jenkins, the Global Lead for International Student Mobility at the British Council. “To the best of my knowledge almost all UK providers pledged to the AQF by the time the government made it mandatory [in spring 2024]. Independently, agents have also made public statements about their support of the AQF. Since the pledge was launched the number of agents registered for the [UK course] has increased from 8,000 in December 2023 to more than 26,000 in June 2024.”

Agent training is similarly embedded in the quality assurance standards in Australia, where agent-counsellors referring students to Australian institutions can complete the (EATC) in order to earn a Qualified Education Agent Counsellor (QEAC) designation. The EATC is a long-established course, now delivered by ���Ϲ��� Academy, with more than 13,000 graduates. “The EATC is a perfect example of how training can become part of an industry standard,” says ���Ϲ��� Academy Director Stacey Crosskill. “It provides counsellors with a strong foundation for effective student advising, and it allows individual institutions and schools to concentrate their own training efforts on their respective programmes and services.”

Alongside the British Council course for the UK and the EATC for Australia, ���Ϲ��� Academy provides specialised courses for counsellors advising students on study in Canada, the United States, France, Ireland, and, as of this week, New Zealand. All told, those courses have registered more than 127,000 learners and conferred professional qualifications to more than 19,000 agents in 130 countries who have successfully completed the course requirements.

Aside from the huge demand for training on the part of agency-based counsellors, perhaps the biggest takeaway from this review is that training courses can form an important part of a larger quality assurance mechanism, especially where they are explicitly incorporated into national or international models for quality assurance.

Validating and vetting the agency

If codes of conduct set a threshold of professional standards for both agencies and individual counsellors, and training advances the qualifications and professional development of agency-based counsellors, the last piece of the self-regulatory puzzle would appear to be verifying the bona fides, good practices, and compliance of the agency itself. This is where agency accreditation comes in.

There are lots of different mechanisms in the marketplace to screen or check agency qualifications. These especially include the requirements of the 14 national agency associations that comprise the supranational agent body (Federation of Education and Language Consultant Associations). They also include the vetting that occurs within the agent networks maintained by pathway providers, such as or . Similarly, event organisers, such as or , pre-screen agents that join their networking events. And of course many institutions or schools will conduct their own vetting of agent partners.

Against that varied backdrop, there are only two fully articulated agency accreditation programmes globally. One is administered by the (AIRC), and the other is the (IAS) programme. (Please note that in the United States, where AIRC is based, the term “certification” is more commonly used than is “accreditation.”)

AIRC has been certifying agencies since 2009. Its process is extensive, encompassing five broad areas of agency operation and a combined that agent-applicants must satisfy in order to earn the AIRC Certification seal. To date, 163 agencies have been certified and 107 are active-certified members. The process typically takes nine months, sometimes more or less. Agencies are initially accredited for a five-year term and, pending a successful reassessment in year five, may be renewed for subsequent ten-year terms.

Reflecting on the role of such accreditations, AIRC’s Director of Operations and Certification Jennifer Wright says, “They are designed to provide a full vetting of the agency company and recruiting operations and can be wholly accepted as a qualification for institutions to partner with an agency, or they may complement an individual institution’s agency vetting efforts. I’ve had institutions send staff to our reviewer training at AIRC with no intention of working on agency reviews for us. But they are going to use those skills in their own due diligence work in evaluating new agencies or agency performance, and the AIRC certification gives them a running start on their own engagement with the agency.”

Meanwhile, the IAS, says Tony Lee, ���Ϲ���’s Chief Vision Officer, has become the de facto global standard for agency quality assurance and represents the “the highest common denominator of good agency practice in all of the major study destinations.”

The programme reached an important milestone earlier this year with the accreditation of its 2,200th agency across 127 countries. Another 1,000 agencies are currently in the midst of a comprehensive vetting process that includes reference checks, operational audits, and extensive document verification.

Agencies are reassessed annually, and agent compliance with accreditation requirements, including the ���Ϲ��� Code of Conduct, is overseen by ���Ϲ���’s global agent team, which currently numbers more than 30 staff across 16 countries.

“In order to be a true standard for the industry, any accreditation scheme needs to be credible, accessible by a wide variety of agencies, and administered by a market-neutral organisation with global reach and expertise,” adds Tony Lee. “These are the core ingredients of IAS, and it’s why we are seeing such rapid adoption of this accreditation model by agents and industry stakeholders alike.”

For additional background, please see:

• Join the (12 September 2025, London). A landmark one-day summit bringing together the industry’s senior leaders, policy makers, and experts, all focused on shaping the future of the international education sector.
• “���Ϲ��� announces new agent code of conduct“
• “Australia expands regulatory oversight of education agents and announces new integrity measures for VET“
• “Global agent survey finds a strong growth outlook for 2024; provides new insights on agency operations“

The post Who decides about quality? Education agents and the question of increased regulation appeared first on ���Ϲ��� Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

The move follows a high-profile “exposé” published in on 27 January. The piece has since been widely criticised by sectors leaders as having conflated international foundation programmes (sometimes referred to as International Year One or IYO) with full degrees.

Speaking immediately after the item’s publication, Universities UK Chief Executive Vivienne Stern said: “The Sunday Times story fails to distinguish between entry requirements for International Foundation Years and full degrees. International Foundation Years are designed to prepare students to apply for full degree programmes. They do not guarantee entry to them. They are designed for students who come from different education systems where, in many cases, students might have completed 12 rather than 13 years of education…It must be understood that entry routes for international students will reflect the diverse countries and education backgrounds that these students come from, and that some will need bridging courses to enable them to progress to UK degrees.”

Even so, a further statement from Universities UK on makes clear the level of concern around the story, and that the sector feels the need to respond further to a narrative that has caught the public imagination, as well as the attention of policy makers.

“There has been a significant focus on recruitment practices relating to international students in recent weeks. While many aspects of the reporting misrepresented the admissions process and criteria, we recognise the concern this has caused for students, their parents, and the public and it is vital that they all, along with government, have confidence that the system is fair, transparent, and robust,” said Universities UK. “Where there is practice that falls below the standards expected of our universities and their representatives, we will take action.”

The peak body has therefore determined that it will:

• Review the (AQF) and make recommendations to strengthen it further, particularly with respect to recommendations toward “how the AQF and wider UK data infrastructure can be enhanced to identify and address bad practice and improve resilience.”

• Commission the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) to “undertake a rapid review of [International Foundation Programmes].” That review will essentially compare requirements of International and Home Foundation Programmes, with a particular focus on admissions requirements.

• Strengthen the sector’s Admissions Code of Practice with respect to international admissions by reviewing “the Admissions Code of Practice to signpost where the Code is expected to apply to international recruitment and update the Code if appropriate.”

Those moves come amidst growing calls within the UK sector for increased regulation, especially with respect to education agents. Writing in on 2 February, Jim Dickinson argued that the AQF review should be accompanied by a requirement that its provisions be compulsory for all institutions. “That will feel like burden to some – but it’s hard to find anything in the framework as currently described that you wouldn’t argue is pretty essential when recruiting people from another country to spend a lot of money to come study in the UK,” he said.

Mr Dickinson is calling in part for expanded efforts re: due diligence in vetting agents, strengthened (and consistently applied and enforced) agent contracts, a greater onus on education providers to ensure that agents undertake required training, and greater transparency and monitoring across agent networks.

Responding via LinkedIn, higher education consultant Vincenzo Raimo added, “My view is that trying to regulate agents across national borders is the wrong place to start. We should be regulating those who appoint the agents. We are too quick to blame agents when things go wrong. It’s the universities which appoint the agents in the first place who need to take responsibility for the actions their agents carry out on their behalf. I approve of the Code of Ethics for agents but where’s the code of ethics for the universities and their staff?”

Even that sample of opinion reveals some persistent challenges in approaching the question of increased regulation of agents, including at least:

• The capacity and effectiveness of institutions and schools to vet new agent contacts and to monitor agent performance
• The practical limitations of attempting to regulate agents across national borders

Some of those points were echoed in a lively LinkedIn discussion, which included comments from industry veteran Nick Golding, who added, “Can consistency of [agent] vetting be assured when it will be undertaken by hundreds, if not thousands, of different individuals working across 140+ institutions?…Then, how will ongoing standards of practice be monitored with, for example, annual audits? Are universities resourced for that, and could it that mean that agencies are audited by every single institution they work with?”

“While I believe that all institutions everywhere should conduct some form of due diligence on agents and other suppliers of students, I don’t believe that is the ultimate answer to the problem. The international education sector as a whole needs a global standard of agency good practice and training that is independently accredited and monitored on an ongoing basis, which is at arm’s length to the agencies themselves, and institutional or national interests.

In other words, there needs to be a supranational body that can embed and police global standards effectively.”

There are of course well-established models for accreditation, regulation, and agent training, but the most commonly cited examples of those are tied to specific study destinations, such as the United States, Australia, or New Zealand. We don’t normally cite ���Ϲ��� programmes or services in ongoing coverage, but in this case it’s appropriate to point out one highly relevant and global initiative –  – that has already emerged as the industry’s largest agency accreditation scheme with 1,500+ agents vetted, the status of each is regularly reviewed via annual audit. That accreditation is in turn tied to, and reinforced by, compulsory compliance with a Code of Conduct for education agencies.

The industry is clearly on a path towards increased oversight and quality assurance in this area, both in the UK and elsewhere, but the key ingredients to an effective model will include a balancing of educator and agent responsibilities, monitoring and enforcement mechanisms that transcend national boundaries, and a solid grounding in the best practices and standards in the field.

For additional background, please see:

• “International enrolment drop at York sounds alarm for UK higher education“
• “���Ϲ��� announces new agent code of conduct“
• “New analysis highlights UK universities’ reliance on international enrolments“
• “Signs point to cooling demand for UK higher education in non-EU markets“

The post Universities UK announces admissions and agent probe appeared first on ���Ϲ��� Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

Education agents have always played a key role in advising students and guiding them through the often-complicated process of applying to study abroad – including visa, travel, and housing arrangements and even settlement after arrival. Choosing where and how to study abroad remains among the most important life decisions that many students, and their families, will make, and so students and parents alike continue to place a high value on the local support and advice that a qualified education agent can provide.

This explains in part why agents have come to play a greater role in international student recruitment over the past decade and more. And it speaks as well to the influence that agents have in a student’s choice of study destination.

Roughly three in ten respondents to a March 2021 student survey conducted by the British Council said that they worked with education agents when planning their studies in the UK. And 90% of those said that agents were highly influential in their choice of study destination. An earlier survey conducted by World Education Services found a similar proportion of inbound students to the US were supported by agents, and the vast majority of those (83%) reported high levels of satisfaction with the services they received from their agents.

When we look outside of those surveys for broader indicators of the role of agents in international recruitment, we find examples like the February 2021 study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) which reports that nearly half (49%) of US colleges are currently partnered with education agents. (This was up from the 36% of US colleges who reported recruiting through agents in 2017/18.)

In the United Kingdom – where nearly all higher education institutions and schools work with agents – it is estimated that 45–55% of foreign students in the UK have had the support of an agent in planning their studies.

The use of agents is also widespread in Australia, where agents accounted for three out of four international enrolments (75%) in Australian schools, vocational institutes, English-language training centres (ELICOS), and universities in 2018. The situation is similar in Canada, where international student numbers have roughly tripled over the past decade, and where nearly all institutions and schools are engaged with agents. By some estimates, about half of all foreign students in the country are agent-referred.

And now, at this advanced stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is increasingly clear that agents will have an even larger role to play going forward. Educators are of course keen to rebuild and diversify enrolments, but will rely more on in-market agents to do so in part because of continuing limits on travel overseas. And students and educators alike will need more assistance than ever in the months and years ahead as they navigate evolving travel restrictions, shifting market conditions, and the gradual resumption of visa processing and travel services.

Who supports the agents?

With all of that growing reliance on agents as recruitment partners, we also see a greater interest among agents in accessing more in-depth resources, training, and professional qualifications. There are tens of thousands of agents worldwide. The field is highly competitive and, more recently, has been characterised by an expanding range of participants, including large, venture-backed agent aggregators; prominent international agent networks; independent agents based in sending countries; and a growing number based in leading study destinations as well.

Whenever agents are asked how their work can be better supported, training ranks very high among their responses. In an agent survey conducted by Australia-based International Education Services, for example, nearly 85% of respondents rate training from educators as “very important”. And responding agencies indicated a clear preference for training delivered via self-directed resources online.

Along with resources and training supports provided by educators, agents can now also take advantage of an expanding range of destination-focused training programmes. These courses provide targeted training for agent-based counsellors, and, in some cases, can also serve as a basis for further study or qualifications.

In the UK, for example, Study UK – the UK’s national campaign promoting UK education to international students, delivered by the British Council in partnership with the UK government’s GREAT Britain campaign – offers a course specifically for agents recruiting for UK higher education institutions. “” is an introductory course for current or aspiring agents who want to establish a solid foundation for advising students on UK study. The course is free, is delivered entirely online over a three-week cycle, and agent trainees can access the course materials on-demand to study at their own pace.

“Study UK: A Guide for Education Agents” is built around several core topics, including:

• why students choose to study in the UK;
• best practice for advising on course selection;
• the application process for UK higher education;
• UK visa and immigration policy, including the new Graduate Route;
• support services at UK institutions;
• the learning environment at UK universities; and
• resources available to support agents.

Trainees that successfully complete the course are eligible to receive a digital certificate as evidence of their participation, and it is clear from earlier course cycles that agents value the course content highly. “A great course with lots of information and insights for the agents who are recruiting international students for the UK,” said one trainee. “For an aspiring education agent as I am, the course touched every aspect of all that need being learned,” added another. “I enjoyed the interactive parts of the course where we could share our opinions.”
 
The current cycle of the course is open for registration and runs from 7 March to 8 May 2022. For additional information, or to register, please consult . For more information about Study UK, visit .

The post UK offers targeted training for education agents as research reveals their impact on study destination choice appeared first on ���Ϲ��� Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins formally launched the new strategy at the  earlier this month.

New Zealand’s Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins, announces the New Zealand Education Strategy 2018–2030 at the New Zealand International Education Conference in Wellington in August.

The New Zealand Education Strategy 2018–2030 replaces the . First released as a draft for consultation in June 2017, it was finalised over the past year through consultation across government agencies and with international education stakeholders including educators, students, peak bodies, and community groups.

International education a pillar

The strategy reveals the New Zealand government’s understanding of fundamental role of international education in the overall economy and culture of New Zealand today. From the :

“International education intersects with a range of government portfolios, particularly education, immigration, tourism, trade and foreign affairs. Change in one area can have ramifications for others. Policies, practices and regulation in all areas need to align to support not just international education but Government’s broader strategic objectives around wellbeing and a sustainable, productive and inclusive economy.”

Three goals

The three overarching goals of the strategy are (1) delivering an excellent international education experience, (2) achieving sustainable growth (through high-quality international education providers, with a range of educational offerings and target markets, and across all New Zealand’s regions), and (3) developing global citizens.

Goals and targets include:

• International student satisfaction rates of 92–95% by 2025 and 94–97% by 2030
• The economic value of the sector reaching NZD$6 billion (US$4 billion) by 2025
• By 2030, double the uptake of education pathways embarked on by international students in New Zealand
• More economic value from the sector from across all regions
• More domestic students studying abroad

A change in approach

Ms Claire Douglas, Ministry of Education Deputy Secretary, Graduate Achievement, Vocations and Careers, says the strategy represents new priorities for the sector:

“[It] shifts its primary focus to lifting the quality of international education and student experience, and maximising the social and cultural benefits in addition to its economic value.

It also aims to ensure that the benefits of international education are shared with regions nationwide. International students provide us a different world perspective, and contribute to a globally-connected and culturally diverse New Zealand. Bringing international education closer to the regions enables more New Zealanders to understand and embrace those benefits.”

Education Minister Chris Hipkins adds, “It’s a quality proposition, not a numbers game.” He continued: “Sometimes if you focus just on numbers and economic values, it tends to cloud everything else. While the wider value and wide contribution of international education has always been there, it’s really about celebrating that more.”

The industry is already a crucial one in New Zealand today. As the report notes, in 2017 it:

• Contributed an estimated NZD$4.4 billion to the New Zealand economy
• Enrolled 125,390 international students, 4,810 of which were studying at the PhD level
• Supported 33,000 jobs in the country

Expanded post-study work rights

Just two days prior to the launch of The New Zealand Education Strategy 2018–2030, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway had announced expanded post-study work rights for foreign students, with the Minister noting: “Work opportunities are part of the package that makes us competitive with other nations that seek to attract international students. If we look at our [post-study work policy] and how it compares with our major competitors, we have in fact improved our position. [Under the new policy] we remain second only to Canada in terms of the work rights that people receive.”

Revamped agent recognition programme

Capping off the news from New Zealand, Education New Zealand’s Chief Executive Grant McPherson has announced that ENZ’s Recognised Agency programme () will start up again on 1 November 2018, with a refreshed training course, supports, and requirements for agents. Roughly half of international students coming to New Zealand use agents, and ENZ’s aim is to ensure the quality of agents available to students and to provide a consistent standard of conduct.

To retain or gain Recognised Agency status, agents will have to:

• Meet a points target (where points are earned by referring students to study in New Zealand)
• Comply with standards of conduct
• Undertake training as required

An accompanying statement from Education New Zealand advises that, “From August 2018, a range of current Recognised Agencies, and other education agencies will be invited to retain or gain their Recognised Agency status. If by 1 September 2018 you have not been invited and believe you meet the requirements to become a Recognised Agency, you can apply to become one.”

Agents who have gained ENZ Recognised Agency Status will be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure they are meeting required criteria.

There are significant benefits for agents gaining Recognised Agency Status. Mr McPherson noted: “Only those high-performance agencies who consistently meet our core objectives will earn the right to use the ENZRA logo. In return, the ENZRA programme will strengthen the value proposition for Recognised Agencies by providing them with increased support, training, local market intelligence and bespoke marketing collateral.”

For additional background, please see:

• “New Zealand opens up post-study work rights”
• “New Zealand’s foreign enrolment dipped in 2017”

The post New Zealand introduces international strategy and revamped agent recognition programme appeared first on ���Ϲ��� Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

Growing numbers of students across the world are relying on international education agents to help them with their study abroad ambitions, but government and university policy on agents is variable in leading destination countries.

In the UK, Australia, and Canada, governments are cautiously supportive of the use of international agents – provided agents pass recognised courses and/or observe official regulations.

In the US, opinion is more divided and NACAC, the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, is currently deliberating what its policy will be on how its members engage with international agents.

Central to any question how to work with international agents – or any international partners, for that matter – are issues of ethics and professionalism. Those concerned with the sustainable and responsible growth of international education sectors within a country need to ensure that:

• Foreign students coming into their country are coming as genuine students and are adequately qualified for the courses or programmes they enrol in.
• Agents put students’ needs first and foremost and do not compromise students’ or institutions’ interests due to monetary incentives.

The most serious and successful international agents working today are well aware of the need to distinguish themselves as reliable, effective, and student-focused professionals in their sector, and there is an increasing range of ways in which agents demonstrate their credentials and qualifications today.

At one end of the scale are codes of conduct or standards of practice established by industry associations (or even governments as in the case of the London Statement).

At the other end of the continuum are robust accreditation or certification schemes, such as the process established by the American International Recruitment Council (AIRC).

Increasingly, however, professional development and/or certification courses also play an important part in reinforcing or establishing an agency’s credibility in the marketplace.

The following summary profiles some of the more established or successful training courses in order to illustrate the increasing field of professional development options available to international education agents.

The IATC is a professional training course open to agents operating anywhere in the world focusing on any destination market. It provides:

• An understanding of the overall international education market and the main destination countries for international students;
• The skills and research parameters to analyse destination countries and their education products and processes;
• The functional dynamics of dealing with students, education institutions, and governments.

The course covers three areas:

• The Context of International Education: Destination countries, education systems, legal requirements, and visas.
• The People in International Education: Students, education institutions’ personnel, and immigration authorities.
• Promoting International Education: Working effectively, marketing, and ethics.

The IATC is delivered online free of charge. Related testing and assessment sessions take place at ���Ϲ��� Events and in conjunction with selected industry events and locations around the world.

Participants who complete the IATC assessment successfully are issued with a certificate, certifying them as ���Ϲ��� Trained Agent Counsellors (ITAC).

The Australian Education Agent Training Course (EATC)

This course is designed to:

• Provide education agents with information about the Australian education system and Australia as a study destination, education quality assurance issues, and the Australian visa regulation system;
• Keep agents abreast of changes and developments in international education services;
• Encourage and support excellence in business service delivery, study and career pathways, and professional development.

Registration is free of charge and the course is delivered online. Those wishing to become Qualified Education Agent Counsellors need to undertake the Formal Assessment of the Education Agent Training Course.

Agents can currently take the formal assessment test in Australia (Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney) and several locations around the globe: Dubai, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Sri Lanka, South America, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The exam is also offered in conjunction with selected ���Ϲ��� Workshops around the world.

Education agents who have successfully completed the EATC formal assessment are listed as Qualified Education Agent Counsellors.

The Canada Course for Education Agents

Newly produced by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, in cooperation with CCIEM, ���Ϲ��� and PIER, the Canada Course equips international agents with accurate and current information about the Canadian education system and how to choose a study programme in Canada.

The course is available online and is delivered free of charge in a self-paced format. Agents can then take the Canada Course examination that will be available soon at ���Ϲ��� conferences or related international education events.

If they complete the examination successfully, they will be identified by ���Ϲ��� in an online listing of agents who have successfully completed the course and examination.

The Canadian government notes, “Completing the Canada Course is an important component of agents being viewed in a positive light by Canadian institutions and international students.”

The Canada Course provides agents with:

• An understanding of why Canada is one of the top study destinations in the world;
• An overview of the study options available in Canada, including examples of flexibility within the higher education system between programmes and institutions;
• Information about how to apply to study, as well as costs and scholarships;
• Tips about how to best prepare for living and studying in Canada.

New Zealand Specialist Agent Accreditation (NZSA)

To be accredited as a New Zealand Specialist Agent, agents undertake training by Education New Zealand and are then tested accordingly.

Specialist agents are then required to follow Education New Zealand’s Code of Conduct for specialist agents and adhere to the policies and procedures of Education New Zealand and the New Zealand Ministry of Education Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students.

New Zealand Specialist Education Agents are recognised by Education New Zealand, New Zealand government agencies, and education institutions, which take the designation as a credible demonstration of knowledge about New Zealand education and commitment to an ethical agent code of conduct.

Please see this link for what it takes to become a New Zealand Specialist Education Agent, and see the course content areas here.

The British Council has designed a certificated online course for agents by the British Council. This global training programme is delivered and managed in-country. The purpose of the course is to:

• Develop agents’ capacity to work effectively with UK institutions;
• Improve knowledge and understanding of the UK as a study destination;
• Increase knowledge of UK study programmes;
• Enable agents/representatives to provide high quality information, resources, and services to students seeking an international education;
• Provide agents/representatives with the skills and resources needed to provide relevant, accurate and trustworthy information.

The course is delivered online over a period of eight weeks. Candidates complete online assessment following each unit and the course culminates in a final (written) formal assessment conducted under exam conditions at the local British Council office.

Please contact the British Council for further details.

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Canada Course signing ceremony at the Canadian Embassy in Berlin, October 2012. From left to right: Georgina Galloway, Edu-Canada, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT); Gonzalo Peralta, Executive Director, Languages Canada; Thilo Lenz, Public Affairs Division, Canadian Embassy; Markus Badde, CEO, ���Ϲ��� GmbH; Paul Schroeder, Treasurer, Languages Canada; and David Ehinger, Public Affairs Division, Canadian Embassy.

Registration is .

The course is an unique new online professional development programme for agents that includes information on:

• The benefits of study and research in Canada
• Canada’s history, regions, climate, and people
• Canada’s education systems and study options
• Resources and links for study permit and work applications
• Costs and scholarships
• How to professionally promote Canada (including the latest info on Bill C-35)
• Living in Canada (including pre-departure tips)

The Canada Course was launched just as the 2012 ���Ϲ��� i-graduate Agent Barometer Study released its finding that – according to 1000+ agents from 107 nationalities – Canada is now as attractive as the UK, and in second place behind only the US, among study abroad destinations. In addition, the Canada Course becomes available at a time when:

• The government of Canada has allocated CDN$10 million over two years in support of an International Education Strategy for Canada.

• Canada ranks #1 in the G8 as “the best place to invest and do business” according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s global business rankings forecast 2008–2012.

• Canada’s higher education system is in the top 5 in the world in terms of the funding it receives (public and private).

• Canadian students are among the top 5 academic performers in the world and #1 among English-speaking countries according to the OECD PISA studies in reading, mathematics, and science.

• The Canadian Experience Class, launched in 2008, helps qualified foreign students and workers in Canada to speed up the process of moving from temporary to permanent residence in Canada.

“The Canada Course represents excellent international cooperation between the Canadian government, key education stakeholders in Canada, and ���Ϲ���,” Markus Badde, CEO of ���Ϲ���, said at the ceremony. “We were all extremely committed to developing good content that would further education agents’ ability to accurately and professionally represent Canada as a study destination to international students.”

Gonzalo Peralta, executive director of , and representing the CCIEM, said,  “With more and more international students both interested in studying in Canada and using education agents to assist them in their plans, we felt it was urgent to provide a course like this that gathers current and relevant information about Canadian education in one place. Ultimately, this is about protecting students and Canadian educators by supporting and encouraging the use of qualified education agencies.”

The Canada Course is now open to agents around the world focusing on Canada as a study abroad destination; it is available at and is offered free of charge.

Agents who complete the Canada Course will be able to take a corresponding examination (details will soon be announced); those who successfully pass the exam will benefit from recognition via an online posting of successful exam-takers on the ���Ϲ��� site; students, Canadian education institutions, governments, and researchers across the world will be able to consult this online posting.

Canada has seen considerable growth in its international education sector over the past several years, reflected in statistics such as these:

• International students contributed more than CDN$8 billion to the Canadian economy in 2010, up from CDN$6.5 billion in 2008

• 218,000 full-time international students in Canada in 2010, up from 178,000 in 2008 and more than double the number of students in 1999

Georgina Galloway of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada, commented: “The Canada Course is an important tool to ensure agents have access to comprehensive, current, and accurate information that will ultimately help students when they are researching their study options in Canada.”

For more information on the Canada Course, please visit the or write to training@icef.com.

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