The Australian government has recently held training days for Brazilian education agents in order to ensure they are up to date on Australia’s education sector, national branding and visa procedures.
Two training workshops for education consultants in the country’s Southern region were hosted by the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) last month.
Around 40 agents attended the sessions in Curitiba and Florianopolis to learn about the latest trends and opportunities in Australia’s education sectors, to gain guidance on the use of Future Unlimited branding, and learn about changes to the visa system.
”The purpose of the sessions was to encourage more agents to understand and promote the advantages of Australian education in all sectors”
Annual agent training is part of Austrade’s strategy to promote Australia, which attracts around 17,000 Brazilian students each year, as a study destination.
“One of our key priorities is to execute an effective engagement strategy with offshore education agents,” Patricia Monteiro, Austrade’s Education Manager for Brazil, told The PIE News.
One objective of the training was to raise awareness of the opportunities available to foreign students in higher education and high school programmes.
“There is a lack of awareness among many agents of how to represent such institutions, as well as a lack of understanding about their programs and what they might offer to Brazilian students,” Monteiro commented.
“The purpose of the sessions was to encourage more agents to understand and promote the advantages of Australian education in all sectors,” she added.
David Frenkel, Director of Latino Australia Education‘s Florianopolis office told The PIE News that even after 10 years of specialisation in Australia, the sessions were helpful.
Agents were also encouraged to complete the Education Agent Training Course offered by Pier Online in order to gain a formal qualification for their work.
”My team and I still got to learn and review some important information Austrade presented (in terms of market statistics) and, during the additional training offered by the Australian Embassy, we also had the opportunity to learn more in regards to the student visa requirement process,” he said.
