Why Students use Agents – Demand and Supply

This paper is based on research from the Education Intelligence’s Student Insight surveys and proprietary interviews, and aims to provide a greater understanding of the demand for information on services, fees, accommodation and applications, that international students seek from education agents. The objective of the report is to provide insight into possible alternatives to using education agents, and how the supply of information could be customer-determined and led in future.

Section 1 The Demand: Global Students’ Use of Education Agents An overview of quantitative data that affects the tendency and likelihood of prospective students using education agents across five regions: Europe, Latin America, Africa, Southern Asia and East Asia. Students were asked if they had contacted or intended to contact an education agent. Results and trends are presented. Section includes a regional analysis of key factors affecting the tendency and likelihood of prospective students using education agents. Data from one country from each major region is analysed, and insight into trends across markets is provided. Areas surveyed include: - Level of previous overseas study - Subject area of choice - Stages in the decision-making process - Nature of services students commissioned from education agents - Study destination country of choice: Do the services students need from agents change depending on the country in which they plan to study?

Section 2 The Demand — A Focus on China An examination and analysis of qualitative data in this section helps to provide more detail about why students use education agents. A series of in-depth interviews with students from Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Beijing provides the basis for the analysis, and identifies specific information including: - Why and for what services students used education agents - Strengths and weakness of agents - Experiences of agent bias - Whether agents were viewed as the only source of information - Student recommendations for institutions to help them improve information provided to international students - Student rankings of alternative information sources to agents.

Section 3 The Supply — Other Ways to Meet the Demand A review of conclusions from the study into prospective student information and service demands from education agents, and how they might shape supply in future. Although the information gap between prospective students (and their fee-paying parents), and the process and machinery of overseas study, is currently serviced by education agents, opportunities exist to provide alternative, affordable and ethical customer-focused approaches to international recruitment.

Please Note: Research reports produced by Education Intelligence may contain data or information collected from public sources such as UNESCO, the OECD and the World Bank, among others, in addition to original British Council data. There may also be research or information from Euromonitor, the EIU, or other related sources.