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The British
Council’s work
with Agents
ICEF HE
September
2016
Helen Obaje
Helen Obaje
Professional Development Manager, Agents
Juhanie Cheung
Account Manager London, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South East
Why the British Council Works with Agents
• to share our expertise in education counselling and information
provision to ensure a high quality service is delivered .
• to increase their capacity to promote UK education
• to promote and reward ethical and professional behaviour and to
improve the quality of agents, by providing a British Council
professional development route
Building Agent Capacity and Professionalism
• The aim of the strategy is to increase the number, effectiveness
and quality of agents working on behalf of UK providers in all
relevant sectors.
• This is achieved primarily through British Council’s Agent Training
and Continuing Professional Development Programmes.
• These are backed up by information dissemination and other
activities aimed at developing the role of agents as marketing
partners. British Council maintains agent databases and makes
these available to institutions and students, via its Global Agents
List.
Benefits to UK Institutions
• Agents have a better understanding of UK education at all
relevant levels
• Agents must undertake CPD and commit to code of professional
behaviour and ethics
• Trained agents associated with British Council/Education UK with
additional exposure to UK marketing and promotion
• Opportunity to engage with us to shape the offer and integrate
your own training
• offer increased access to high quality and eligible students
Benefits to Agents
• International recognition as having achieved a high standard of
excellence.
• Association with British Council/Education UK brands with
additional marketing opportunities
• Listing of details on a publicly available British Council Trained
Agent List
• The Certificate to display
Benefits to Students
• Trusted status of British Council
• Guarantee that agents represent genuine, recognised UK
institutions
• Access to agents who have committed to a code of professional
behaviour and ethics, and have broad understanding of UK offer
A certificated course, modelled on British Council staff
training, delivered in-country, across the regions
Connecting with agents
Education UK branded to
present the UK education
experience in an inspirational,
accessible, meaningful,
friendly and fun way that
students and parents can
relate to
Contributors to the course include:
Course contributors
A wide range of British Council information and marketing staff
worldwide
Education information specialists within the British Council
Partners in a range of UK institutions across all sectors
Senior representatives from national agencies including UCAS and
UK visas
Eligibility Criteria
• Agents need to have agreements with or references from 2
institutions on the Register of Sponsors, or with a British Council
Accredited Language School, or they are an English UK Partner
Agency
• The certificate is for the individual agent, not the agency they
work for
• Breaches of the code of conduct lead to agents removal from the
database
• Global sliding scale of prices based on the local market economy,
UK charge is £375
Programme Management
UK
• Setting and managing global training
schedule
• Support staff before, during and after
training rounds
• Technical support
• Revision and exam papers
• Moderation and global standardisation
of 10% all exams and portfolios
• Quality Assurance
• Programme Review and Development
• Provide global analyses and reports
• Enquiry Handling
In-Country
• Promotion, recruitment and selection
• Face to face briefings
• Verify recruited agent records
• Input management information
• Assessing Exams and Portfolios
• Award Ceremonies
• Updating Global Agent Listing
• Locally distributed Webinars and
agents events
Levels of certification
Year 1, Foundation level
Education UK Award for Agents,
Advisors and Education Counsellors
• 8 weeks’ supported on-line learning
• Formal exam
Year 3, Advanced level
British Council Advanced Agents
Certificate
• agent practitioner led
• evidence of CPD activities
2 years certification is gained for successful completion of each agent training
programme
Contents
Unit 1 Studying and living in the UK
• Lifestyle, Costs and finance, Working while studying, Visas and
Immigration, and Accommodation
Unit 2 Why choose a UK education
• How the UK education system works, English language
learning, School and tutorial college education, Further and work
based education, Foundation and Pathways, Higher education -
undergraduate study, Higher education - postgraduate study,
Study for a UK qualification in your own country
Contents 2
Unit 3 The UK Operating Environment
• Professionalism and ethical behaviour, Working with UK
institutions, Visa and immigration compliance for UK institutions
and students, Data protection and intellectual property, Child
safeguarding
Unit two - Content
• Decision-making factors
• What to ask, in PG and UG
• Make sure candidates learn better by including more self
assessment.
• “How do I put it into action”
• suggested case study so that they
reflect on what they learn.
Self Assessment
Case study Multiple Choice
Professionalism and the Advanced Agent CPD
programme
Drivers
A consistent, defined recertification model for all countries
Agent demand for context-specific, advanced training opportunities
Embedding professionalism and ethics in capacity-building activity
Recognising:
• maturation of the agent ‘industry’
• the diversity of agents’ roles, relationships and contexts
• the need for flexibility in recertification, acknowledging context,
experience and professionalism
• the role of all partners in agent capacity building – developing a
collaborative approach to agents’ training and professional
development through education partners
The CPD Cycle – working together to build capacity
Defining needs Planning CPD
activities
Recording training and development
in CPD Log
Reflection,
Practice
Evidence added to Portfolio
Monitoring and tracking against
CPD Plan
Reviewing
Partners in capacity
building - providing
training opportunities
Providing evidence
for the portfolio
Compulsory Coverage of CPD areas
The CPD Portfolio evidence must show coverage all of
the following 5 compulsory areas of activity
E Education sector knowledge
L Life in the UK
V Visas and immigration
M Marketing and promotion
P Professionalism and ethics
Formal CPD
Formal CPD is formal training, gained in on-line or face-to-face
situations, through:
• conferences
• courses studied
• training events
• seminars
• workshops
• training from institutions
Training must be relevant to the agent’s role
It must be supported by evidence of attendance/completion
What agents say………
“The agent training programme is a very useful resource for us to understand UK education.”
“My knowledge of UK education has improved
significantly due to the high quality training
materials provided by the British Council. With
the training and resources made available my
counsellors have all the right tools available to
advise students more professionally and
comprehensively.”
“Other than that it includes agency services, ethics and responsibilities, visa application and regulation, pre-departure duties etc…. I believe that this course helps to control our quality in order to run our business”
Education agents on British Council website
http://www.britishcouncil.org/education/education-agents
Education agents on British Council website
The British Council Trained Agent List
Agents on the Global List
Number of Agents by country of
operation
Country Agent Country Agent Country Agent Country Agent
Albania 1 Czech Republic 1 Kenya 3 Saudi Arabia 18
Argentina 1 Denmark 1 Kuwait 7 Singapore 3
Armenia 3 Egypt 5 Latvia 1 South Korea 84
Austria 1 France 8 Libya 2 Spain 5
Azerbaijan 8 Georgia Republic 6 Malaysia 16 Sri Lanka 11
Bahrain 1 Germany 1 Mexico 8 Taiwan 44
Bangladesh 32 Ghana 2 Morocco 8 Tanzania 2
Belarus 2 Greece 31 Myanmar 8 Thailand 51
Belgium 2 Hong Kong 32 Nepal 23 Togo 1
Brazil 9 India 59 Nigeria 30 Turkey 37
Bulgaria 3 Indonesia 19 Oman 3 Uganda 3
Cambodia 2 Iran 9 Pakistan 73 Ukraine 32
Cameroon 1 Iraq 3 Philippines 2 United Arab Emirates 29
Canada 4 Ireland 2 Poland 13 United Kingdom 160
China, Peoples
Republic 56 Japan 58 Portugal 1 United States 8
Colombia 22 Jordan 5 Romania 11 Uzbekistan 1
Cyprus 13 Kazakhstan 44 Russia 23 Vietnam 60
Total 1253
Services for international education marketing
• Over 5000 marketing projects a year
• Over 100 recruitment events a year from small school tours to
large exhibitions
• Delivering in over 40 markets
Campaigns and promotion
• Sector engagement e.g. EAIE, NAFSA
• Education is GREAT
• #WeAreInternational
• #GlobalBritain
• Visit Britain
• Press tours
• Shakespeare Lives
• Agent fairs
Agent Fairs
• One week programme
• Sector specific
• Two fairs with institution visits
• Networking programme
• Partnership focus
Press tour example
• Invitation only press tour
• Funded by hosting education
institutions, British Council and others
• Extensive press coverage
• Hong Kong March 2016 – Scotland
• 7 journalists from 6 media organisations
• 5 universities
• Outcomes
• 13 print articles
• 14 online articles
• ‘Free’ media worth over £120,000
• Initial reach 2.8 million readers
Higher education sector
• Sector use of agent channel
(Source: Times Higher Education 2015)
• Institution support – Sussex example
Number of agents recruited
2011/12 2012/13 2013/14
Total agents 51538 52639 54331
Total spent
2011/12 2012/13 2013/14
£74 million £81 million £86 million
Institution support
• 4 day programme
• Over 60 agents
• Destination, employability, culture,
schools fair, international
partnerships
• Extensive online resources –
guides, schedules, housing,
scholarships, marketing collateral
British Council research
New Tier 4 pilot
• Four universities in England: Imperial College London, University
of Cambridge, University of Oxford and University of Bath –
lowest refusal rates
• One year master’s degrees – to 2018
• Submit fewer documents
• Stay on for 6 months
• If successful will be widened to support ambitions of HE sector in
UK
Helen Obaje
Helen Obaje
Professional Development Manager, Agents
Juhanie Cheung
Account Manager London, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South East
