Overseas agents
Disclosure date: 24 January 2012
Reference: FOI2011/105
Request
1) Please could you provide a list of all Overseas Agents that are used for student recruitment or university representation purposes. (Only agents that have been used in the 2010-11 academic year).
2) For each Overseas Agent, please list all payments and contracts with that company for the 2010-11 academic year. Please state the amount of money that was paid, and the service that was provided by the Agent. If there are any additional financial agreements with the company, please state these also (e.g. the company will get X% of the tuition fee for every student they recruit, etc).
3) Please state how much the university paid in total to Overseas Agents during the 2010-11 academic year.
4) If known, please state how many students were recruited by Overseas Agents for courses that started in Autumn 2011.
Response
1)
| Aoji Enrolment Centre of International Education Ltd Aspire Educational Consulting Atlas International Beijing HHL Overseas Education Service Co. Ltd Beijing JJL Overseas Consulting & Service Co Ltd Beijing New Oriental Vision Overseas ConsultCo.Ltd beo Bosss UK Ltd British Side Education Counselling Service Burgeon Education Centre for Economic Training in Africa Cheeway Education International CNUK-China - UK Culture & Commerce Association Ltd Commerce Linkage D & S Education Consultancy Co EDCON EDM Eduabroad Consulting Education Resources Network EduGlobal Eduk Edukation Ltd Edushanghai International Co. Ltd EDWISE International EIC Group Ltd GetSet Ltd Global Education Services Global Visions International Education Golden Arrow Overseas Consulting Gostudy Education Institute HR Consultants HRD Services Huashen International Education Co. Ltd IAE EduNet Index Education Services | International Placewell Consultants PVT Ltd i-One Education Centre JA Study Abroad Center (JASA) Knowledge HorizonLinx Enterprises Ltd London School of English Mentor ISC (Education & Training Consultants) Ltd New Oriental Education and Technology Group Orienchange Ltd Oxbridge Consulting Inc. Oxford Vision Consultancy Ltd Penprapa Advisory Study Abroad Ltd Peopleoving Education Rain Watcher (UK) Samid Foundation/Student Exchange Savi (UK) Ltd SchoolGuide Shanghai Huashen Shanghai SISU Educ .Inf.Centre for Int. Exchanges/SISU Study Abroad Centre Sino-UK Culture Express Student AZ Exchange studentgenerator.com Study in England Study International (SI-UK Education Council) Study Outside Norway AS Thames Education Ltd The Combine Company Tri-V UK UCAS UK Arts Uhak UK Edu Centre UK Education Centre Ltd UK International Education Alliance UKEAS Ltd UKEN (UK Education Network) UKEO Korea Ltd UKuhak.Com Wiseway Global Co. Ltd |
2) In general terms the services provided by the agents that we use are promotion of our programmes, selecting suitable applicants, counselling potential students, assisting with the application and fee payment process and with visa applications. Commission for recruiting students is always 10%.
I can confirm that SOAS holds information on payments to overseas agents. However, the School believes that disclosing this information would prejudice the commercial interests of the School. The information is therefore covered by the exemption at section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act.
A significant proportion of the School’s annual intake is made up of overseas students, who in turn provide a large proportion of the School’s income through fees. Overseas agents help the School to recruit some of these students – approximately 10% of degree applicants from overseas. If the School disclosed details of how much it paid to individual agents, this would be likely to prejudice the School’s ability to negotiate the best terms with individual agents.
The exemption at section 43(2) is subject to a public interest test. Arguments in favour of disclosure are:
There is a general public interest in improving the transparency and accountability of public bodies, ensuring that public money is well spent, and that the School is obtaining value for money in procurement of services.
Arguments in favour of maintaining the exemption are:
There is a public interest in the School being able to recruit as many students as possible from overseas, both for income purposes, and to maintain its attractiveness as a place to study. It is not in the public interest for agents to be put in a stronger position to negotiate with the School, as this could potentially result in more public money being spent.
The School takes the view that the information being disclosed showing how much is spent on Agents and how many students were recruited meets the general public interest in transparency. It is very important that the School’s ability to recruit students from abroad is not impaired, especially at a time of economic difficulty at home. In the School’s view the public interest in maintaining an affordable pool of agents, who in turn can supply the School with new students, outweighs the interest in disclosure of information on payments to agents.
3) £331,455.19 was paid in total to Overseas Agents during 2010-11. Not all of the agents listed under question 1 above recruited students or received payments during 2010-11.
4) Approximately 241 students were recruited by overseas agents for courses that started in Autumn 2011.
