The annual mystery shopper research program is designed to evaluate the prospective student enquiry experience across a range of channels.

For aecc, dozens of enquiries were made by phone, email, live chat and social media to a sample of 20 offices across India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Malaysia, Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Australia.

The agency’s Malaysia office score of 86 out of 100 surpassed any other institution in the world that has taken part in the tracker.

“We are very proud of the teams in the aecc network, especially in this case our Malaysia office, for their exceptional performance,” the agency’s chief operating officer, Daryl Fong, said.

“Our results in the Edified EET are a testament to aecc’s commitment to delivering a world-class student experience across our global network.”

The agency has 55 offices in 16 countries.

Overall, when compared with 128 institutions worldwide, aecc rated third in the world and better than all UK institutions for ‘responsiveness’.

The 2023 institution research – which was conducted earlier in the year than the agent tracker – found that six out of the global top 10 scoring institutions were from the ANZ region, with Auckland University of Technology ranked first.

“We are very proud of the teams in the aecc network”

On average, responses from Scottish universities were rated the friendliest and most trusted in the world.

The credible third party review was a “no-brainer”, giving aecc the chance to ask “what we can do better to provide the best experience possible for prospective students everywhere”, aecc chief commercial officer, Jake Foster, added.

The survey also identified that aecc’s approach to mobile-based enquiry channels was highly rated, with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger the preferred communication channels for many Gen Z students.

Two in three institutions globally have yet to integrate this option, aecc noted.

The tracker survey, developed in partnership with student conversion specialists UniQuest, assesses 41 criteria, including enquiry channels, responsiveness, communication quality, follow-up and impact.

It is also designed to highlight the “scale of lost enrolment opportunities and clear areas of improvement for institutions”.

The goal of having aecc as the first-ever education agent participating in the research was “to understand how aecc responds to prospective student enquiries and gain an objective evaluation of how their enquiry experience compares with that provided by institutions”, senior consultant at Edified, Chris Davis, said

Davis, who was project lead for the aecc EET (conducted between July and September 2023), added, “We’re thrilled to work with organisations like aecc who are student-centred and truly committed to learning, innovating and adapting in order to give students the best service possible.”