ICEF-trained professionals raise the standard within our sector, leading to better outcomes for counsellors, institutions and students.
We firmly believe in the transformational benefits to individuals, communities and society as a whole that come directly from international education. With this greater purpose in mind, ICEF Academy provides professional training and development for those who wish to develop expert knowledge of the global education landscape.
ICEF developed the ICEF Agent Training Course (IATC) in 2010, to support quality and professional standards in international student recruitment. This course has since been adapted into a Chinese language version, the China Education Agent Course (CEAC). In subsequent years, we added specialised training programmes for various study destinations, including Canada, the USA, and Ireland to our agent training portfolio.
In 2022, ICEF acquired the PIER digital platform from International Education Services (IES) in Australia. This acquisition included the Education Agent Training Course (EATC), created in partnership with Australian Education International (AEI) and the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). The newly updated course became part of ICEF’s agent training portfolio, adding Australia to its list of study destinations.
In 2023, two new destination courses, the Advising for Study in France course, and the UK Agent and Counsellor Training Course were added to ICEF Academy’s courses for agents. The latter is delivered in partnership with the British Council, the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. It is a comprehensive professional course for agents and advisers who work with education providers or advise students wishing to study in the UK.
We also produced our first training programme for education providers, the Working with Education Agents Course (WEAC), a self-paced online course designed to help institutions strengthen their agent-led international student recruitment strategy.
In early 2024, we launched the Introduction to International Education Course (IIEC), an entry-level training programme for non-agents that provides a comprehensive overview of international education systems, recruitment channels and career opportunities in the sector.
The Ethical Sales Training for Agents and Counsellors (ESTAC) course, developed in partnership with Edified, was launched in October. The course aims to help agents refine their consultative sales skills while maintaining the highest standards of ethics and professionalism.
Launched in 2025, Train Your Agents is an all-in-one agent training platform, with user-friendly templates, real-time progress monitoring, and robust tracking features. It offers educators all the tools they need to provide compliance-driven agent training and safeguard their institution’s reputation.
