Students attracted UK universities for “false promises” of hiring agents

Ajit left his village in southern India to Oxford in the hope of better opportunities. But within a few days of arriving in 2022, he discovered the contracting agent who found him a course, had sold him “false promises”.

The young man, 27, said that a Studyin UK agent in Tamil Nadu told him that Oxford Brookes was part of the Oxford University and that he guaranteed an automatic extension of his post-study work visa.

“I was told that I will stay five years and then I can go directly to” indefinite permit to stay “, which is a false promise,” Ajit said to Financial Times.

Son of a police officer and housewife, she worked for long supermarket shifts next to study. After two years, Ajit returned home with debt, with a digital marketing degree that has not yet taken a job.

Cash trapped Universities of the United Kingdom In recent years, they have greatly relying on international students, whose fees are not without stopping. But as higher education institutions have competed for this profit abroad, stories such as Ajit have become more common, according to experts in education and migration.

Universities use hiring agents to find international students for their courses, paying millions of pounds per year in commission.

Enroly, a platform used by international enrollment management students, is estimated that the two -thirds of foreign students enter the United Kingdom universities through agents. Oxford University is among the few institutions that do not use agents.

According to experts, the rates for agents have been between 10 and 30 percent due to the first year’s license plate rate, which can range to £ 60,000 a year, depending on the course and the institution.

Sometimes agents charge a flat fee for students to help select and apply to universities, accommodation and visas. According to experts, there is little practical resource for students who have misleading information on the part of intermediaries or encouraging inappropriate courses.

“We went down a higher commission level weapons race to convince students to choose my university about another university, instead of the most appropriate for them,” said Vincenzo Raimo, an international consultant in Higher Education.

Ajit, who requested that his real name was not published, said that he used Studyin, formerly called Si-UK, to be applied to seven British universities, paying a small manipulation fee after ensuring an unconditional offer of Oxford Brookes. Its enrollment rate was about £ 16,000 a year.

Founded in 2006, Studyin processed 210,000 university applications from the United Kingdom for foreign students during the year until 2025. Consulting is headquartered in London, but has 100 offices in 45 countries.

CEO, Rob Grimshaw, said: “All of our agents must go through the British Council certification process and the study code of conduct during the board. There is nothing as a perfect system, but we work greatly to form our staff and we assure us that we maintain quality levels on the network.”

Grimshaw, ex -FT -director general, added that there are “numerous routes” for complaints and staff “quickly and openly.”

“We will follow this case incredibly strongly because we never want to give a student’s wrong advice and orientations.”

Ajit story reflects broader concerns about the student recruiting system through intermediaries. Last year, independent Migration Government Advisers Trouble marked with agents giving “misleading information”.

The Migration Advisory Committee requested the obligatory disclosure of the number of universities spent on agents and how many students are registered each year.

Natasha Fernandes, an Indian tourism student at University College Birmingham, said that he encountered two agents who refused to help him apply to certain universities in the United Kingdom, raising his suspicions of bias driven by commissions “because his benefits are more than my benefits in this agreement.”

Fernandes said agents suggested that “instantly” would find part -time jobs to start paying their loan of £ 14,400 for license plates and visa rates next to their course. Instead, the 27 -year -old found he had to take a break from his studies to work, almost doubling the duration of his title.

“You are doing everything to get you found … but you are not able to meet these expectations,” he said.

After the Visa on the United Kingdom Graduate Route reintroduced in July 2021, Indian students’ arrivals declined: the quadruple of 34,261 in 2019 at 139,539 in 2022, while those in China decreased during this period. Last year the government enforced a prohibition of dependentsdriving the numbers down.

Tripti Maheshwari, co -founder of Student Circus, who helps international students find a job, said that some Indian students came to the United Kingdom, although they were not suitable for courses.

“Customers have asked us to offer Hindi sessions because students are not very comfortable with English,” said Maheshwari. “People will borrow their homes for money for students’ expenses and get a visa. Universities and agents have to be responsible for students responsibly.”

Louise Nicol, an international expert in Higher Education and founder of Malaysia and founder of Asia Careers Group, said that “some agents in South Asia sell not only education, but also work and a path to indefinite leave to stay.

“They promise them: you can establish -you forever live in Fully Kent … but this is not the reality of what is available to many international students.”

Vijaykumar Pydi, head of the media from the National Indian Student Association of the United Kingdom, said that agents often tell officers that Indian customers say that the success rate of foreign graduates who obtain a sponsored work is more than 60 percent, when in their experience it is 10 percent.

The Britain Agents Market is not regulated and there is little supervision whether students recognized by agents are successful at the university. But in summer, it is expected that the names of the agents appear in the “confirmation of the acceptance” of students (documents necessary for visa applications) in a movement aimed at increasing transparency.

The higher education sector introduced in 2023 the agent’s quality framework, which includes an online internship and certification program of an agent organized by the British Council.

“This practice code for the first time really encodes the standards and professional behaviors of agents,” said Charley Robinson, student mobility leader at UK Universities. She called her a “great step forward.”

But some are skeptical. “It provides a facade of credibility without real checks or balances,” Nicol said. “The problem is that we do not know what the agents say to the students; neither do I think universities know it.”

Oxford Brookes University said, “We signed up for the UK Agent’s Quality Framework when launched, demonstrating our commitment to keep agents at the highest level possible.”

He added that students with concerns about the actions of the agents should inform them at the university so that they can “investigate them thoroughly”.

The Home Office said that it valued the “significant contribution” that international students made in the United Kingdom and to continue to “implement measures to ensure that the institutions they attend and the immigration system are protected from those who want to exploit it.”