Make no mistake, today’s potential student has never been more informed. Across the Internet, students looking for places to study can find up to the minute information on colleges and universities from every continent on Earth. They can see college layouts for themselves on Google Earth, watch videos of classes in action on Youtube and even join communities and talk to current students online directly via Facebook and other social media platforms.
With all this, it’s no wonder that some agents might be thinking their future is a bit bleak. Why, after all, if a student can get all this information for free no less, would they need an agent? Wouldn’t it just be easier and cheaper to go through the process by themselves?
The Value of Experience
Fortunately for agents everywhere experience and knowledge still counts for a lot. An experienced agent will have been involved in sending dozens, even hundreds of students or more to institutions around the globe while usually this will be the first and only time the client has been through the process. True, the client may have already found several universities they want to study at, but do they know how to get there? Or how to apply for and work through the Visa processes of the country in question?
In this sense the role of the education agent has changed. Rather than being a font of all reliable knowledge, the agent’s role has evolved to be one of facilitator and enabler. They are less involved in choosing a destination for their student client but more essential in helping the student get into their desired programme.
Tomorrow’s Agent
This means in many ways a change in the way agents operate. The question “Where should I go to University” may have changed, but the question “How do I get there?” remains ever present. The changing face of IT means that to remain relevant, an Agent must continue to educate and train themselves to use emerging technologies such as social media in order to reach out to students and institutions alike.
The education agent in this new tomorrow must be flexible, and willing to work with multiple partners abroad. It’s no longer enough to stick with a few key partnerships. Meanwhile, given the increasing preference of many students to study in several different places during the course of their studies the possibilities for repeat business for a good agent are greater than ever – provided the agent ensures to give the sort of quality support and customer service that makes the student want to come back to them over and over.
A Bridge to Somewhere Wonderful
In many ways the role of the agent is the same as it always has been – to be a bridge between students and educators. The precise relationship has changed, no longer does the agent show the student where the bridge is. But so long as there are students there will many who need help crossing it. Those agents who will thrive in the new era will be those who excel in helping their students best to their destination.
So What Next?
If you are an Educational Agent looking to expand and grow your business visit our sister organisation QISAN – the Quality International Study Abroad Network where members can make direct links to institutions and students.
If you are an Educational Institution looking for great, quality assured Agents who sign up to a quality code of conduct then QISAN is for you too.
To see what ASIC and QISAN can offer to expand your business speak to one of our helpful staff members today – Contact Us.
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