Tackling the sub-agent dilemma: Exploring the pros and cons of aggregated recruitment

Main topic: Building a sub-agent network has been a well-known strategy in international student recruitment for many years. Sub-agents can provide education providers with a range of advantages, including expanding market reach, leveraging local expertise, increasing diversity, and enhancing conversion rates. However, the use of sub-agents also has its challenges, and with the dramatic increase in sub-agent recruitment, fuelled by the emergence of ‘agent aggregators’, more and more concerns are being raised about quality control, transparency, data security and potential conflicts of interest. In addition, the absence of direct relationships between agents and education providers may expose institutions to reputational risks if sub-agents engage in unethical practices or provide misleading information to students. In this episode's main topic we take a look at sub-agent recruitment, exploring its pros and cons, and examining the impact of agent aggregator platforms on the student recruitment process and the broader international education sector.