Senior figures from the international education sector from Australia, Canada and the UK showed “much weaker intentions” to spend on agent aggregators and digital recruitment platforms in 2024 compared to 2022, a survey of more than 200 senior operational and strategic leaders revealed.
The proportion of universities expecting to spend more on these methods of student recruitment in the next one-two years plummeted from 54% in 2022 to just 22% in 2024, the second Global Survey of International Education Leaders (GISEL) – created in partnership between Navitas, Nous and The PIE News last year – showed.
“The reduction in digital platform investment may reflect more critical procurement processes as universities become more mindful of cost-per-click metrics and the overall return on investment for these channels,” a report of the survey’s findings said.
The expected decline in investment comes against a backdrop of hostile immigration policies in major international study destinations, with most international students banned from bringing their dependants with them into the UK and international enrolments restrictions in Australia and Canada.
Navitas insights office, Jon Chew, told The PIE that, with a federal election in Australia looming, institutions in the country will have to strategise accordingly to make sure that the international education sector in the country can meet any further “rude surprises and shocks” down the road.
We’re getting very little notice about what our cap will be for the next year. And that’s a really good example of that very short-term runway that we’re having to deal with
Jon Chew, Navitas
He advised the sector to make sure there is a “clear narrative and a clear vision” for the future, ensuring that there is oversight of the “bigger picture of where things are going and how decisions are getting made”.
“That’s really important, both for the destination’s attractiveness but also for institutions’ ability to plan [their] ability to invest well in both Canada and Australia,” he said. “We’re getting very little notice about what our cap will be for the next year. And that’s a really good example of that very short-term runway that we’re having to deal with.”
“Higher education needs a lot of consistency and predictability and policy,” Nous principal, Matt Durnin, told The PIE. “Universities are an extremely valuable part of a nation’s economy and the broader social landscape. They’re not, however, built for rapid change – and repeated rapid change is particularly challenging for them.”
He added: “With a lack of policy consistency and predictability, we’re running huge risks with the ability for the higher education system to to thrive.”
Respondents to the GISEL survey also expected to see a drop off in their institutions’ investment in marketing and recruitment staff. While 61% of respondents to the GISEL survey in 2022 predicted an increase in spending on these staff members, this figure reduced to just 17% in 2024 – and those predicting cuts in this area soared to 37%, the survey’s results showed.
However, the survey showed a glimmer of hope for education agents, revealing that institutions still expect to rely on them heavily for their international student recruitment efforts. Upcoming investment in agent commission and incentives is expected to get higher by just under a quarter of respondents, with a further 63% expecting spending in this area to stay the same.
And respondents from key markets (Australia, the UK, Canada and New Zealand) all indicated that agents were the primary channel through which they expected to recruit International students, with the projected proportion of students recruited via agents ranging between 32% and 68%.
“The preference for agents is rooted in their ability to provide localised expertise and reach diverse markets,” the report noted. But it warned that institutions’ “reliance” on agents came with high commission costs, putting further pressure on “already stretched budgets”.
Initial findings of the GISEL survey were revealed in late 2024 – showing that sector leaders were pessimistic for the future of international education due to restrictive immigration policies in their respective markets.
