The third most likely route to an agency was by finding it online (20%). Students could indicate more than one reason: others that did not feature as commonly but were influential factors included “I liked the website” (10%) and an agency presenting at their school (9%).

We asked our participants to go further and single out the single most influential factor that enticed them to use a particular agency. An interesting array of responses were generated, but consistent themes were: reputation; attitude of staff; quality of information; swift responses and pricing.

Asking students why they chose to use an agency was also insightful. Reasons tended to point to: their extensive knowledge given price tag and/or timeframe; an agency imbues confidence given overseas application process; safe and less complicated to organise various aspects using third party. But one word used again and again was easy.

“It’s easy when you want to have a visa and find a good English school,” said a Thai student in Australia. “It’s more easier than by myself” said a Taiwanese student in New Zealand (studying a short-term English language course).

In terms of agencies charging a fee, 66% of students indicated that they did not pay a booking fee. Of the 34% who said that they did, 38% paid US$200 or more, while 32% paid under US$100. Forty-two per cent of Saudi students indicated they had paid more than US$200 as a booking fee, as did two of the three Nigerian students who were in our survey.

About the booking that they made

33% of students were counselled in person and did not spend any time researching online

One respondent indicated that the single most important factor was that the agency was close to his home, and this leads into an interesting finding from our survey: that 33% of students were counselled in person and did not spend any time researching online before booking their study experience.

This would suggest that a face-to-face counselling experience remains the most likely way to secure a booking even in this digital age (although counselors may well use online information when advising clients).

Our survey encompassed a wide range of students and course types. On the other end of the spectrum, 24% of students indicated they booked entirely online. Assessing if there was any correlation between type of course or nationality and mode of booking, further study revealed 48% of all Thai respondents booked in person with no online browsing.

Of the nationalities most likely to book online, all of the Norwegian respondents indicated they booked entirely online, although half of them also connected with their agency using phone or instant message.

In terms of types of course booked only online, this was unsurprisingly most typical for language courses.

Overall, 33% booked in person and did no online browsing; 24% booked online entirely; 16% booked in person but with some prior virtual contact; 15% booked online but after meeting in an office/elsewhere and 12% booked online but connected using phone/instant message beforehand.

We asked students “What services did your agency provide?”. A lesson learnt is that this question must have been unclear to respondents, many of whom were learning English. Only 83% indicated that their agency provided school and course selection: perhaps some did not select Yes because they had already chosen their school and course themselves.

When it came to other services, 56% indicated their agency provided them with visa services; 38% orientation; 24% agreed they could find tourism add-ons and flight booking facilities at theirs. Lastly, 14% said their agency offered pre-course language classes and a number indicated language testing as a service supplied, although this was not a category to select.

About the service that they received and their experience

When asked if they were well prepared, a hearty 68% of students indicated that everything about their course of study was as they had been counselled. The main criticism that was unearthed via this question was that 21% felt that there were more students from their home country than they expected.

One student wrote, “I wish there were fewer, it made integrating harder.”

Digging down into specifics on this, 32% of Japanese felt this way and so did all the Norwegians, all of whom were studying at undergraduate degree level. The Japanese who felt this way tended to be on longer-term English language courses or pathway programmes.

As students could vote in more than one category, another 11% did say that they felt the school was not as they had expected, and smaller proportions of students had issues with the accommodation (6%), social programme (5%) or location of either their school or accommodation (4%).

When asked to rate various aspects of their course, the academic programme received the highest rating overall, followed by the location of the school and then student welcome/orientation.

Some institutions are clearly doing a fantastic job of welcoming their international intake. Of those who indicated they were very satisfied with student welcome/orientation, this did include nearly 42% of the Australia-based international students.

Half of all students said they would use their education agency again and 35% said maybe. The ‘no’s also might have considered using a different agency, but the question didn’t go that far.

If you misguide your student and tell him to go to a university which is not in his best interest, I guarantee you within 12 months you’ll be pulling your shutters down”

Overall, students seemed happy that the decision they made with an agency thousands of miles away had worked out well. There were some areas to be improved. One Saudi student said he felt he was more knowledgeable than the agencies he spoke with. A Malaysian said he knew enough about his university; nothing about his local area.

But many students came across as determined in their academic path and very aware that an agency could help steer them in the right direction.

As one Chinese respondent studying in the UK put it, education agencies are “Safer and easier. A kind of effective platform for students to choose their dream school.”

Why that school/country?

An agency helps steer students towards a country and a school or university that can really offer them a supportive learning environment and match their aspirations. As Sanjeev Verma of Intelligent Partners in the Middle East says, “you don’t want to send a student from Asia to an all-white WASP college in America, it might be very good but he’d feel out of place and he won’t be confident.”

His is an example of a successful education agency, which now has branches in Dubai, Qatar, Libya and Oman. Verma estimates 80% of their business is through referrals and recommendations. “If you misguide your student and you tell him to go to a university which is not in his best interest, I guarantee you within 12 months you’ll be pulling your shutters down,” he says.

We asked our survey group why they chose their particular school and country destination and their responses indicate that reputation, work rights and a country’s perception as friendly, free and liberal all play a persuasive part, alongside an agency’s or family member’s point of view.

My parents and I thought learning English would be wonderful in Canada and I can be a citizen.

– Turkish student, Canada

Because I always wanted to go to the USA. I chose Denver because I love the mountains. And most German speaking people want to go near the sea. So I went as far as possible from them.

Swiss student in the USA

Japan was a dream since far back so I never questioned that. I choose the school because of the big nationality variety amongst students, the staff could speak English and they were not as strict as other schools. The classes were smalled and intimate and it just seemed like a “warm” atmosphere.

Swedish student in Japan

My mother recommended that to go to Canada because Canada is safe country compare with other countries

Japanese student in Canada

Basically because Australia and also the agent have a good references about the style life, the posiibilities to improve my english skills and the quality life.

Colombian student in Australia

This article first appeared in The PIE Review.