UPCOMING
WORKSHOPS
2024 Fall Marketplace for Schools & Agents  •  October 4-5-6, 2024  •  London, England
2025 Winter Marketplace for Schools & Agents  •  February 7-8-9, 2025  •  London, England

Educational Consultants/Agents

Agents

Professional educational consultants and agents whose client families have children interested in summer programs and academic year high school programs, can be found in almost every corner of the globe.

Many have been educated in North America themselves, so are already familiar with the benefits of the education system, and have returned to their home countries to smooth the way for the next generation.

All are professionals, who care about the students they serve. They work to:

  1. Promote schools with whom they have established an agreement, through advertising, inclusion in their own brochures printed locally in the local language, and screening prospective candidates to ensure a match in recommending the right school for the right student.
  2. Convert an inquiry into an application, chaperoning a candidate through the admissions process, interviewing students on a school's behalf, administering appropriate tests (such as English Proficiency tests and others), and assisting students with the visa application procedure.
  3. Provide on-going support in a student's country of origin, acting as a liaison with the parents who might need grade reports to be translated into their own language, and being available in situations in which and English-speaking intermediary could be helpful.

For this service, some educational consultants will charge the families, not the schools, for their services. The majority, however, will wish to negotiate an introductory fee from the school for any student whose application meets with success and who enrols and arrives on campus. This is common practice in Asia, the Asian sub-continent, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Some such consultants are active members of IECA, others are not, but will likely be members of their own professional associations, assuring ethical standards are maintained. Such associations would include TIECA (Thai Independent Educational Consultants' Association), the KAEA (Kazakhstan Association of Educational Agents), and TEAG (Turkish Education Agents Group), to name but a few. Many have been professionally trained by the British Council in country on how to work with British boarding schools, before expanding their portfolios to include boarding schools in the USA and Canada.

Schools should be prepared to negotiate a fee (often referred to as a "commission") in the region of 10% of published fees for summer programs, and 10% of tuition, room and board for academic year students. Remember, the decision whether or not to accept a student lies squarely with each school's admissions committee.

Participating agents vary from workshop to workshop, but in 2024, they will be invited from countries including the following:

Western Europe:France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey
Eastern Europe:Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Romania, Serbia/Montenegro, Ukraine
Africa:Ghana, Nigeria
Asia:China, Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
Latin/South America:Brazil, Colombia, Mexico

For more information, and for those agents wishing to register their interest in participating in an upcoming workshop, please contact info@nabsw-edu.com in the first instance. We look forward to hearing from you.


Recognised Agency Associations

ALTO (Association of Language Travel Organisations)
AMTE (Education Tourism Mexican Association)
ANEX (La AsociaciĆ³n Nacional de Empresas para Estudios en el Exterior) Columbia
ASEPROCE (Asociación Española de Promotores de Cursos en el Extranjero)
BELTA (Brazilian Educational & Language Travel Association)
CIEL (The Council of International Education and Travel)
EduDer (Educational Agents Network)
FDSV (Fachverband Deutscher Sprachreise-Veranstalter e.V)
FELCA (Federation of Education and Language Consulting Association)
HALTA (Hungarian Association of Language Travel Agents)
HKIECA (Hong Kong International Education Consultants' Association)
IALCA (Italian Association of Language Consultants and Agents)
IECA (International Education Consultants Association)
IKPII (Indonesian International Education Consultants Association)
JAOS (Japan Association of Overseas Studies)
KAEA (Kazakhstan Association of Educational Agents)
KOSA (Korea Overseas Study Abroad)
LILAS (Leading Independent Language Agencies of Switzerland)
TIECA (Thai International Education Consultants Association)
TEAG (Turkish Educational Agents Group)
TOSA (Taiwan Overseas Study Association)
UED (Association of International Educational Counsellors)
VIECA (Vietnam International Education Consultants Association)
YUTA (Association of the Travel Agencies of Serbia)