A LACK OF OVERSIGHT
Student recruiting has dark side
B.C. colleges are spending millions luring international students to the province, leading to a growing windfall for loosely regulated overseas recruiters who often take a cut of the proceeds, and sometimes even extort foreign students and their families.
The province’s public and private colleges often rely on a crossborder network of recruiting agents and international schools to supply them with undergraduate students willing to pay tuition fees that are often three to four times higher than what domestic students pay.
Budget figures for several postsecondary institutions show that their spending on recruiting international students has soared in recent years.
In its proposed budget for 201718, Langara College has allocated $1.672 million for international agent fees — more than triple the figure from two years ago. Douglas College, meanwhile, paid more than $1.1 million on agent commissions for the 2015-16 year compared to $575,000 in its 2013-14 budget. Between 2014 and 2016, the travel budget for Douglas International, the department that deals with recruitment of international students, jumped from $122,000 to $300,000.
According to Ajay Patel, Langara College’s vice-president of external development, 60 per cent of the international students who are enrolled at Langara employ the services of recruiting agents.
Research universities such as the University of B.C., Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria rarely use third-party agents, relying instead on their substantial marketing budgets, brand recognition and in-house recruiting staff.
However, SFU’s first-year pathway college, Fraser International College, which is a collaboration between the university and the Australian company Navitas, does employ third-party agents. Navitas contracts 180 agents who serve in 130 countries.
According to a 2016 study by the U.S.-based Bridge Education Group, agents accounted for as much as 41 per cent of international enrolments in Canada. The industry of third-party recruiting agents contracted by colleges and universities is largely unregulated by federal or B.C. governments and the codes of ethical conduct are often voluntary. Douglas College, for example, requires agents sign a statement committing themselves to “be of good character and reputation” and to not “adversely impact” the reputation of the college.
International agents often recruit for multiple colleges and universities in Canada. They receive a commission from Canadian institutions for each student they recruit — usually a percentage of the first-year tuition paid by the student, according to administrators.
The percentage can vary between 10 per cent and 40 per cent, depending on the college, the country of origin and the contract with the agents. Many within the recruiting world point to the essential role the third-party recruiting agencies play in bringing students to Canada.
Mike Henniger, vice-president of sales and marketing for Berlinbased International Consultants for Educations and Fairs, believes third-party agents in countries like India and China play a vital role in the international education industry.
“People coming from sometimes small centres in rural parts, their family doesn’t speak English, and they’re making one of the largest transactions of their life,” Henniger said.
“They’re spending a lot of money and a huge amount of faith. They need to talk to someone to get information, and schools aren’t set up to provide the counselling like that. The agent provides a superimportant role and that gets undervalued.”
But some students at B.C. colleges told The Vancouver Sun about being overcharged and, in one case, defrauded by an international agent.
Elsa Leraj arrived in Vancouver from Albania to study at the private Education First language school in 2014. She and her sister paid an agent who worked in Albania with the firm ANDE-LM Ltd. $15,000 to obtain visitor and study permits for them both. The federal government charges $150 for a study visa and $100 for a visitor visa. The average wage in Albania is close to $500 per month.
“They would tell people about jobs abroad and schools. I don’t know where the money went,” Leraj said.
Both the sisters received their visas, but one of their cousins was not so lucky: His visa, for which he paid a similar amount, was never granted.
The agent, Luli Makashi, was arrested in April 2016 by authorities in Albania, along with her daughter Adeila.
According to court documents accessed by Postmedia, Makashi was investigated following allegations of “fraud” in connection with multiple cases of Albanian citizens who were attempting to gain work and student visas in Canada, Australia, England and other countries. The court seized all the bank accounts of ANDE-LM. The case is still ongoing in Albanian courts.
After finishing her language school studies, Leraj has since enrolled at Douglas College, where she is pursuing a degree in international studies.
The father of another international student, Rishikesh Bala, was forced to pay a bribe to an agent in India in order to gain access to his own guaranteed income certificate.
Bala had applied and been accepted to Langara College. His family was required by the Canadian government to put $10,000 into a GIC account, which is mandatory for citizens of a few countries — including India and China — and acts as a proof for their living expenses in Canada while they apply for a visa.
Bala’s visa application was filed by his agent, who worked with Eduwings Career Consultants in Ludhiana, India. When his application was rejected, he was refused access to the password for his GIC account until his father paid the agent $100.
He later reapplied with another agent, CANAM Consulting, which has offices in India and Nepal, and had to pay $500 in “processing fees.” This time, his visa application was accepted. But these fees were twice as high as similar fees paid to recruiters by six other Indian international students interviewed by The Vancouver Sun.
Ajay Patel, Langara College’s vice-president of external development, said the college has received no recent complaints about the agents they work with.
“Langara does not require international students to work with agents in order to apply. In fact, a growing number of our international applicants apply directly to the college,” Patel said in an email.
“Our agent approval process includes a comprehensive application, including reference checks, direct in-person training, and careful vetting. Agents are reviewed annually by Langara staff,” he wrote.
Langara, however, does not restrict agents from accepting fees from students in addition to the commissions that are paid by the college. Douglas College, in an emailed statement, indicated that most of its agents “do not charge additional fees for assisting with study permits.”
Of the 11 international students interviewed by Postmedia who had employed third-party agents, seven were charged additional fees by these agents.
Aladi Arun, founder of Indiabased AKC consultants, has been recruiting students for colleges across various countries for over a decade.
He admits that there are some bad apples in the international recruiting world, but said some of the responsibility lies with Canada’s regulatory regime. Unlike countries like New Zealand or Australia, he believes the regulation of agents in Canada is almost non-existent.
In a report released last summer, Bridge Education Group found that 37 per cent of U.S. post-secondary institutions that were surveyed expressed a lack of trust in working with third-party recruiting agents.
The report stated that “concerns with agents’ unethical activities included mention of agencies retaining student I-20s for additional funds, overcharging students, and document fraud.” The I-20 forms represent student status in the U.S.
Australia and New Zealand have also weathered recent scandals involving third-party recruiting agencies. Immigration New Zealand began cracking down on agents after a major scandal in 2016. More than 300 agents in India were accused of submitting fraudulent documents to ensure their students got visas. The aftermath of the scandal saw 150 students deported from the country.
Immigration New Zealand then started publishing approval rates for applications sent by agents in India, applications sent by students in the Philippines and student visa approval rates for each country. Agents had to take a training program that was launched by Education New Zealand board.
In 2015, an investigation by the Australian television program Four Corners found the practice of falsifying documents, and of overcharging students, was common among prominent student agents from China who worked with Melbourne University, Sydney University and the Australian National University.
B.C. does not provide governmental regulatory oversight of international recruiting agents. Although the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act prohibits non-accredited personnel to aid in any stage of immigration applications, including the application of student visas, no prosecution can take place outside of Canada.
At present, the only province that regulates the use of international recruiting agents is Manitoba.
In 2013, that province adopted a law that restricted the enrolment of international students to designated education providers, and limited the use of agents to those who signed on to a code of conduct.
This code of conduct prohibits misleading or deceptive practices. The law also introduced a provincial director of international students.
According to Erin Selby, who served as Manitoba’s minister of advanced education and literacy when the law was introduced, ministry officials introduced the regulations after accounts of abuses by agents.
“We were hearing some issues around the University of Winnipeg,” she said in a recent phone interview. “We were trying to get ahead of it.”