17th July 2024

 A Guide to Working with Education Agents

The OECD projects that there will be 8 million internationally mobile students by 2025, indicating the pressing need for more efficient and targeted recruitment strategies for institutions to effectively recruit and manage this influx of prospective students.

Education agents could help institutions navigate this complex landscape with their extensive networks, local know-how and ability to guide students to the best possible outcomes.

What do education agents do?

For students and their families, agents play the role of advisors, recommending the most suitable programmes, destinations and educational institutions. On the other hand, agents play the role of local representatives for contracting educational institutions, offering a range of services including:

• Fast and direct access to specific territories with their language and cultural knowledge.
• Representing the institution at recruitment fairs, exhibitions, and events and engaging with prospective students.
• Promoting institutions and their programmes through various marketing channels.

Despite the myriad advantages, you may have questions about working with an agent: does your institution need an agent? Will the agent’s reputation align with your institution’s values? 

The tips below will help guide your decision-making process. However, for a deeper dive into building fruitful agent partnerships and a step-by-step framework to build your agent recruitment strategy, consider enrolling in ICEF Academy’s self-paced, online training programme, the Working with Education Agents Course.

1. Assessing the need for an agent

To assess if your institution needs to partner with education agencies, start by evaluating your current international recruitment strategy. Here are some key factors to assess:

• Current recruitment outcomes: Is your institution meeting its international student recruitment goals in terms of quality, number, and diversity of students? 
• Market intelligence: Do the people involved in recruiting students like recruitment officers have comprehensive knowledge of target markets including cultural nuances, student preferences and local education systems?
• Resource allocation: Does your institution have sufficient resources, such as staff and budget, dedicated to international student recruitment?
• Strategic goals: Do your institution’s long-term goals involve reducing reliance on highly competitive markets or expanding to more markets?

If these considerations highlight any gaps or potential benefits of working with agents, then an agent partnership strategy may be advantageous for your institution. 

2. Finding high-quality, reliable agents

Before you begin the process of finding and selecting agents to partner with, ensure that you have a set procedure and criteria. You may use the following tips to find reputable agents:

1. Look for agents listed in online directories of national education organisations, such as the British Council in the UK, or those who are listed in ICEF’s global directory of IAS-accredited agencies. 
2. Attend specialised networking events where you can connect with screened agents with a proven track record of successful student placements and compliance with industry standards.
3. Conduct interviews with and personally screen potential agent partners to ascertain their credibility and alignment with your institution’s goals and values

When selecting agents, prioritise quality over quantity. Focus on agencies, regardless of their size, that are best suited to your institution and with which you have a real opportunity to grow for the long term. Size does not always determine an agency’s effectiveness; what matters most is finding partners that align with your institution’s goals and values.

3. Initial steps after partnering with an agent

After you have decided to partner with an agent or agency, the next step is to set the foundation for a successful partnership through a service agreement drafted by your institution’s legal team. Some of the key areas the agreement should cover include clearly defined roles and responsibilities, key performance indicators, payment terms, and dispute resolution guidelines.

Additionally, have a performance review mechanism in place where you monitor an agency’s performance based on factors like application conversion rates and brand alignment. The Working with Education Agents Course covers the forms of agent compensation and performance measurement in detail. 

4. Optimising the educator-agent partnership

Once you’ve established a partnership with an agent or agency, continue strengthening the relationship with consistent communication, via regular meetings, updates, and feedback sessions to ensure both parties remain aligned.

Offer regular training in the form of workshops or webinars to update the agent on your institution’s offerings. Similarly, familiarisation tours are a great way to let your agents be among the first to know about any product or proposition updates while giving them a first-hand view of the campus and surroundings, your team, and the student experience.

In conclusion, leveraging an agent’s local expertise and market access can be an impactful way to expand your institution’s international student recruitment efforts and meet its strategic goals.

Alongside professional training and certification, ICEF also offers educator-agent networking events in 24 locations globally. Find out more here.