ABSTRACT
To better understand the role of education agents in the marketised higher education sector, this research explores Chinese international students’ experiences applying to postgraduate taught programmes in the UK. A longitudinal interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach is used, interviewing ten students at four stages throughout the application process from November 2020 to June 2021. Drawing on this dataset, this chapter indicates that among the gamut of services that education agents provide, evaluating transcripts, selecting potential programmes, and producing application documents are most valued by some Chinese postgraduate applicants, in which education agents are regarded as alternative labour of information navigation, and insurance strategies. In parallel, some important implications of the wide use of education agents for marketisation of international higher education are identified.
