Why students use agents and other insights for 2012

ICEF led a presentation at the Languages Canada conference, held recently in Vancouver, providing the audience with an insightful overview of current research and best practices for working with education agents.

The session provided a country-specific overview of why students use agents, what students in each country look for when choosing where to study overseas, and how educators can work most effectively with education agents. In addition, the presenters explained the reasons for the variations in each country surveyed and offered practical suggestions for a country-by-country strategy.

This wide-ranging presentation contains a wealth of current research and best practices on working with agents, brought to you by three members of our ICEF Americas team. We are pleased to present the entire slide deck below.

The presentation covers the following topics:

Why Students Use Agents – Demand and Supply

This British Council report compares the differing levels in which students around the world are and are not using agents, and the reasons students turn to agents.

The information presented is based on a survey of 131,000 students over a five-year period. The report in its entirety includes sections on the likelihood of students using agents if they had previously studied overseas, if the subject area affects the use of an agent, if the stage of the buying process increases or decreases the use of agents and if there is a need based on destination country.

The i-graduate ICEF Agent Barometer 2011

As reported in a previous post, this is a survey of 737 agents, with their thoughts on study destinations, what they are looking for in an educator, and what their expectations and concerns are for 2012. Results reveal what students in each country look for when choosing where to study overseas, as well as what courses and destinations are most popular, by country.

How to work with agents

The presentation wraps up with a look at key issues in how educators can work most effectively with education agents – finding, approaching, contracting, incentivising, motivating and supporting agents.