Earlier this year the British Council’s International Student Mobility team sent out a survey to agents and counsellors who use its Agent and Counsellor Hub (Hub), asking them about how they utilise the Hub and the UK agent and counsellor training. The team found the results really encouraging and therefore wanted to share them with those working in the international student mobility sector.
What do agents and counsellors find useful about the Hub?
Most respondents said that they signed up to the Hub for multiple reasons – 84 per cent wanted to improve their knowledge about the UK as a study destination, while 76 per cent wanted to become certified and listed on the British Council’s public-facing agent database to demonstrate their commitment to the UK Agent Quality Framework. Interestingly, around a third said that they were required to sign up by either their employer or their university partner.
Base: All respondents
When asked about the value of different newsletters distributed through the Hub, 91 per cent of respondents said they found updates on UK government policies useful, while strong majorities also valued information on the Agent Quality Framework (81 per cent) and details of upcoming events organised by the British Council or other bodies (77 per cent).
Why is it important for agents and counsellors to become certified and listed on the public-facing database?
Asking specifically about the value of becoming certified, agents gave multiple overlapping reasons. Credibility, visibility and demonstrating a commitment to the AQF were all seen as important by most respondents.
Base: Certified agents
How do agents and counsellors feel about the training modules?
Almost everyone who responded to the survey had engaged with the training content and a very large majority felt that the training/certification added value to their work (93 per cent). Most also felt that the content was appropriate (79 per cent) and the time requirements were reasonable (71 per cent).
When asking about the difficulty/level of the training, almost three quarters of agents and counsellors said that the level was about right. Those who disagreed were much more likely to say it was too advanced (21 per cent) rather than too basic (four per cent).
How do agents and counsellors feel about the level of the training content/assessment questions?
Base: Respondents that had engaged with the training modules
Asking about the knowledge and skills gained through the training, 94 per cent of agents and counsellors agreed or strongly agreed that they had gained more knowledge of the UK as a study destination, 93 per cent said they had become more confident in supporting students, and 90 per cent said they had gained new knowledge about equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
Who responded to the survey?
Overall, the British Council received a total of 902 responses, with the large majority (79 per cent) being from agents. Most of the remaining responses were from school-based counsellors. The top locations were India, Nigeria and Pakistan, followed by respondents based in the UK itself. While there was a relatively even gender split across all respondents (54 per cent male overall), this varied greatly by country - more than two thirds of respondents in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Ghana were male, but most agents and counsellors in China that responded were female.
Around a third of respondents were relatively new to the sector with less than two years’ experience, another third had between two and five years’ experience, and the remainder were split between five and ten years’ and ten+ years’ experience in their roles.
Last year, how many students did each respondent help to study in the UK and other destinations?
There was a lot of variation in how many students each agent or counsellor sent abroad and the number they supported to study in the UK.
Around 10 per cent of those who responded sent no students at all overseas in 2023 and a similar number only sent between one and three students, but almost a third said that they were personally responsible for sending 50+ students abroad last year.
Similarly, while the median agent sent between 41 and 60 per cent of their students to the UK, around one in five sent over 80 per cent of their students to the UK and a quarter sent 20 per cent or less – with some sending no students to the UK at all last year. This tells us that many users may be required to learn about lots of other study destinations.
As an individual agent/counsellor, how many students did you support to study overseas in the last year (2023)?
Base: Agents
Can you estimate the proportion of those students that you worked with that went on to study in the UK last year (2023)?
Base: Agents/counsellors that sent students abroad
Alongside the UK, the main destinations for students working with agents registered on the British Council’s Agent and Counsellor Hub were other major Anglophone countries, with Canada being the top alternative destination. The US had a slight lead among school-based counsellors. Germany was the most popular non-English-speaking country, followed by France. However, this varied greatly depending on location – for example, Malaysia was a far more likely to be named as a destination by respondents from Bangladesh and China compared to other major student source countries.
Other than the UK, what are the main destinations your students choose to study in?
Base: Agents/counsellors that sent students abroad
Conclusions
The British Council's International Student Mobility team are pleased to learn that most agents and counsellors who responded to the survey find the training and communications valuable, and they will use the feedback provided to develop and improve the Hub in the future.
The British Council really values the role that agents and counsellors play in helping to support international students who want to study in the UK and will continue to do its best to support them going forward.
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