Background

In China, agents play an important role in guiding students through their overseas education decision-making process, including long-term and short-term courses. These agents are the front line ‘sales’ representatives for UK education, supporting the recruitment of quality Chinese students and they are closely in touch with market sentiments.

The British Council provides regular professional development training opportunities for agents in China. The training sessions offer accurate and up to date information and resources to support in-country agents to develop their knowledge of UK education and build their capacity to support their students who are interested in studying in the UK.

British Council agent clinics

In addition to the annual agent workshops in the autumn, the British Council is organising two agent clinics in Wuhan on Thursday 7 March and Beijing on Tuesday 12 March, to provide further professional development training to Chinese education agents. The British Council anticipates 60 agents to attend in Beijing and 20 in Wuhan.  

The British Council would like to invite one speaker from a UK higher education institution to deliver a 50-minute presentation, followed by a Q&A session.

Speakers are invited to apply to deliver a session as detailed below:

• Student career development

Objective: Help build capacity of agents to understand current education market trends, plan longer term development with students and combine education and career planning together.

Suggested topics to cover:

• Should students be considering job opportunities when choosing their degree?
• How can education agents’ factor in employability when supporting students choose their degree?
• What skills are needed for current graduates and what skills will become increasingly important for future talents?
• What skills will a graduate from a UK university develop during study (that will help them find a job)?
• Impact / importance of work placements / internships – how the UK supports this?
• How UK universities support student career development?

The British Council China will offer the speaker:

• Visa invitation letter for China visa application
• An economy return ticket from the UK to China
• Inland economy flights between event cities
• One-night’s accommodation in each event city
• One table on site to have face-to-face interaction with agents*

*Please note there will not be one on one meetings, but agents will have to opportunity to visit your table during breaks and networking sessions.