ICEF Agent Barometer
The ICEF Agent Barometer monitors the opinions of education agents worldwide, providing valuable insight into agents' perceptions of international education markets and institutions. Our unique partnership with ICEF enables us to conduct regular agent opinion studies, to discover what agents see as the most effective marketing strategies for education institutions and what institutions need to provide in terms of support for the agents they work with. The study also gauges the attractiveness of international study destinations as perceived by agents recruiting for a range of study programmes. Since 2007, i-graduate has partnered with ICEF to develop a rolling picture of agent perceptions around the world.
1. ICEF Agent Barometer - annual report
The ICEF Agent Barometer report 2008 will be available for purchase in November 2008. For more details please contact Felice Nightingale (felice.nightingale@i-graduate.org). The report covers the following sections:
- Demographic information including use of branch offices and sub-contracting
- Do agents charge for their services and which services they charge for - including general, education and support services
- Numbers of students recruited per year/ for specific programmes
- Main drivers for students when choosing an education institution - the agents' perspective
- Student mobility concerns
- Attractiveness of study destinations
- Incentives and support provided by institutions
- How to effectively market an institution - including packages and offers, people/staff, services and promotional materials/campaigns
All results are analysed by programme level and include Schools, Higher Education courses, Language courses, Vocational Education and Training programmes, MBA Programmes and Work & Travel.
2. ICEF Agent Barometer - bespoke research
Prospective students face a world of choice and are increasingly turning to education agents to help them in the pursuit of international education. At the same time, institutions are enlisting the help of professional education agents to help recruit students from overseas and to gain access to new and complex recruitment markets. If you require any specific information with regards to agents, please call us to discuss your requirements. We offer bespoke agent studies for institutions who wish to find out more about the relationship between agents and their institution. Bespoke studies can include agents' perspectives of:
- The most effective channels of communication in each market, for your institution
- Your main and/or most effective competitors/competitor products in each market
- Current nature of the relationship with your institution
- Satisfaction with response times, documentation, training, visits by staff from your institution and commission rates
- Knowledge of your products (including scholarships etc.)
What are the benefits for your institution?
• Build your reputation and brand awareness with agents
• Enhance your competitive advantage through identification of competitors and methods of fostering stronger relationships between your institution and agents
• Develop and refine targeted growth strategies
• Fine-tune country and regional marketing plans based on the changing nature of student consumer behaviour, key influences and choice of communication channels
• Develop your branding strategy and (re-)shape individual brand footprints in key markets
The bespoke ICEF Agent Barometer process ensures a coherent approach to continuous improvement – allowing you to benchmark performance against rival institutions and track progress year-on-year.
For more information about ICEF Agent Barometer bespoke research, or to purchase the report, please contact Felice Nightingale (felice.nightingale@i-graduate.org).
For more information about ICEF, please click here.