ABSTRACT
The landscape of international student recruitment in higher education is undergoing radical changes, putting pressure on agents to sustain their business within an increasingly competitive market. This chapter critically explores how agents reconcile the trend towards the international student as a commodity with the interests of these students. The websites of 11 agents were reviewed and 8 experts in international student recruitment were interviewed. The analysis concludes that the relationships within the education agent ecosystem, consisting of the agent, the student, and the higher education institution, are complex and the competition in the market is resulting in a focus on the lifetime value of students instead of on the lifetime choices of students. Furthermore, the experts indicated that from an international and systemic perspective, the field of international student recruitment still seems largely unregulated. The chapter concludes with recommendations for enhancing transparency within the education agent ecosystem, the quality of information and service provided to students, and the imperative to provide easy access to national consumer protection authorities, which are globally interconnected and operate on a common ethical standard.
