Recruitment agents might provide valuable information with regard to applIcations to a foreign university. But to what extent can they be trusted?

ONE thing that everyone feels is that yesterday was always best. In the 1980s and 1990s, a student aspiring to study abroad would have to search for relevant information about courses, seek monetary aid and visit embassy offices many times. All this to apply directly to an institute. If there was any direct help, it came from organisations like the British Council and the United States India Educational Foundation.
The Internet does help nowadays but there is an easier way to get admitted to colleges abroad — through a recruitment agent. Whether it&’s about filling out your resume, writing your character certificate or helping you choose the right institute, recruitment agents are a one-stop answer to all your problems in this area. A report released by the British Council shows that nearly 3.7 million students would be away from home studying abroad by 2024 and India would significantly add to this.
The ones rejoicing are recruitment agents since students cannot bank on traditional methods when it comes to applying to a foreign university. There&’s no denying that a lot of colleges abroad manage their finances through international students. Eddie West, director, international initiatives, National Association for College Admission Counselling, said that these institutes don’t just call students in so that they can benefit from the students’ fees, they do it to diversify the college environment. Because as good as it is practically, and as a development technique, it&’s also a fancy word to throw around in a marketing campaign.
Recruitment agents usually get a commission from the institutes they work with and this can vary from one country to another. Some schools work with agencies and do not pay commissions or offer compensation. Rather, they partner with agencies on other types of joint promotion and marketing and dedicate resources to those endeavours. Some institutes offer flat rates to agents and it could be a few hundred dollars. Other institutes offer a commission according to a student&’s first year tuition. These 15 and 20 per cent cuts can at times translate into thousands of dollars. West said that this had becoming a grave concern since students’ interests were undermined.
So recruitment agents will help you according to a university&’s requirements but is it them helping you or does the college itself have a hand in this? The problem is that usually these agents themselves aren’t qualified so there&’s no way to check their credentials and the truth of their profession. If they see that they are getting a sufficient cut from a university they’ve never really researched, they’d be only too happy to advertise it.
Though many students might swear by the use of additional professional support, there&’s no denying that agents are driven by financial objectives. Sadly, everyone wants an easy answer to everything and there is no easy way to look for a college. What might help you is that agents bring up additional information that you might have missed about a particular college. You could take that with you and cross check it through a reliable source.
But the reality is that some students consider recruitment agents to be the word in information about educational institutes. The investment of funds and time that it takes to get admitted to a foreign university is not worth making the wrong decision through an agent.  The best universities in the USA never rely on recruitment agents. So if you’re aiming for the best, better do it without the help of agents. However, West said that many institutes in Britain and Australia did work through agents and added that students would not do justice to themselves if they excluded these universities.
One student said that at the end of the day, agents provided reassurance. So it doesn’t hurt to pay a bit more to make sure that the larger investment is safe. One recruitment agent said that not all agents helped with letters of recommendation and resume writing. It was only that they gave students tips. He said that one should not forget that there are also a large number of mediocre students trying to apply and that it was the job of the recruiter to make sure that the investment did not go to waste.
One good thing is recruitment agents mention a college&’s code of conduct way in advance so that students can start working towards it earlier. West added that if any university worked through an agency, then they should make this information very clear to the students. They could then check to see if a particular agency really did work with the respective university and vice-versa. There are a few universities that go the extra mile by adding additional information, like the agent&’s commission rates. Such efforts are admirable but more can be done to safeguard students.