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THE GUARDIAN

Education agents are earning record commissions sourcing international students for UK universities, with one institution spending £28m on agent fees last year alone.

The figures obtained by the Observer give an insight into the lucrative student recruitment industry, which has grown rapidly amid a rise in international student numbers and increasing dependence by some universities on the income they provide. In the past year, just under 500,000 sponsored UK study visas were granted – 23% more than the year before, and double the number in 2019. A fifth of income received by UK universities now comes from international students, a recent Guardian analysis found.

Tuition fees charged to international students are higher than domestic fees, with the British Council estimating that international undergraduate students pay £22,000 a year on average, with postgraduate students paying even more.

To incentivise agents, some universities pay generous referral fees – typically either a flat rate per student or a percentage of the first year’s course fees. The figures from universities that provided data suggest the agents receive between £2,000 and £8,000 per student. A decade ago, the figure was estimated to be £1,000.

Data obtained by the Observer reveals that the University of Greenwich paid education agents more than £28.7m in 2022/ 23 – up from £18.4m in 2021/22 and £3.3m in 2018/19. The money went to 230 agencies and related to recruitment of 2,986 postgraduates and 500 undergraduates over the year.. The figures suggest the London university paid an average of £8,235 in agent fees per student.

Another university, De Montfort in Leicester, paid £17.1m in commission to agents last year – up from £10.5m in 2021/22. The payments related to 4,457 international students, suggesting the average per student was about £3,829 – up from £2,388 five years ago.

The spending was revealed through freedom of information requests to UK universities. Most refused to disclose their spending, citing commercial sensitivities, while others – typically the most prestigious ones, such as Oxford and Cambridge – said they did not work with education agents at all.

Of the 20 that supplied detailed figures, most reported a rise in spending – including Leeds Beckett, which spent £9.5m in 2022/23 compared with £871,000 five years ago, and Manchester Met, which spent £4m compared with £650,447.

Universities UK, which represents 142 institutions, said spending on agents had risen due to the growth in international students coming to the UK. “More students are choosing agents to help navigate the application, selection and visa processes,” it said, adding that most agents were “trusted and valuable partners” for universities, which had “rigorous processes” to “prevent abuse”.

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