Recruitment & agents

Chinese students will be able to study English in Ireland more easily under a new visa scheme aimed at boosting the language sector. 55 schools will be able to recruit through “trusted agents” in China while eligible Chinese students will need to provide fewer documents and will have their applications fast-tracked by the Irish Embassy in Beijing.

With a new website, a new board (in May) and an important 20th birthday reached, agency association BELTA in Brazil held a cocktail party this week to celebrate its success. It was hosted by Spain, keen to tap into Brazil's booming market...

A new website has been developed by a UK-based education agency which enables affiliates to direct their own community of students to the comprehensive ELT listings for the UK and Australia...

Authorities in New Zealand have uncovered immigration fraud in 279 Chinese student visa applications through routine random sampling of student visa applications through Immigration New Zealand’s Beijing branch. Two agencies are thought to be the source; some students already identified in the Auckland area.

Brazil sent 25% more foreign students to the USA last year, its second favourite study destination. Agency association BELTA is repositioning to help boost interest in study abroad in all regions of the country...

FEDELE in Spain and the market research company StudentMarketing have signed an MOU to work collaboratively. Student Marketing will help select and recruit agencies to attend the annual conference in Spain and inform members...

A British education lawyer has called for an independent body to be set up to support international students facing unethical treatment by private UK education providers, with BAC backing the idea. Salima Mawji, a partner at Match Solicitors, said colleges were not adequately communicating terms and conditions.

Global education provider Berlitz and European education agency AILS have teamed to launch Berlitz-study-abroad.com – a pilot website promoting language schools in eight countries to French students. The venture is exclusive to France, but plans on are on the table for offerings in Germany, Austria, England, Italy and Spain.

Fifty per cent of language schools and 41% of educational agencies saw growth in the first quarter of 2012, according to the latest language travel survey from ALTO. France, Malta, Germany and Ireland were particularly upbeat in terms of language teaching destinations.

North American educators met with education agents from around the world at the ICEF North America Workshop in Montreal, Canada in April. A French language symposium on the history and purpose of agents...

Brazilian travel giant STB is testing a new app that helps students manage their trips abroad which it plans to roll out across the company by 2013. TripBox will allow students to keep important personal documents close at hand and access travel tips as part of the TripBox user community.

US University Tours, which runs fam tours of US universities for prospective international students, has signed agreements with two agencies to promote its latest package. Vietnamese-Russo agency Access American Education (AAE) and India’s Sonya International Education Centre (SIEC) will promote the US firm’s new Open Tours offer in their local markets.

A landmark statement on ethical recruitment by education agencies has been issued by four countries: the UK, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand. While the Statement of Principles will largely be used for informing best practice and has no actual policy ramifications, the fact that four countries have agreed on quality principles for education agencies is in itself quite a milestone.

Pearson has announced it will partner with JJL agency in China to promote its secure Pearson PTE Academic test. The company said JJL was the largest and most prestigious student recruitment agent in China, and the partnership will allow its 30,000 clients across 21 centres to have on-demand access to PTE Academic testing.

A discounting war is underway in Korea’s competitive agency market which is threatening to squeeze out medium-size agencies and damage foreign educators’ brands, according to sources in market. Driving the trend, say sources, is an increase in “sub agents” – one or two-man outfits which place students through the large “wholesaler” chains.