My agency is in the fortunate position of having many direct contracts with universities across key markets.
As outlined in my previous column, these relationships are the difference between B2C and B2B operations and the heart of our business model.
The number of partners we have suits us well; we know our universities inside out, and we work hard to ensure they are all successful in attracting students.
We often talk about how best to manage the ‘relationship’ between an international office and an agent – but I want to shed some light on what it actually means to be a university partner.
Honesty is the best policy in any good relationship, so think of this as some marriage guidance to keep the home fires burning with your agents.
While I have many loved friends in this sector, when all is said and done, is our relationship anything more than transactional?
The reason I say this is that from a contractual point of view, we are treated by universities like suppliers of students and marketing services, nothing more.
Outside of our core contacts at an institution, it is often hard to get any recognition from finance, legal or admissions teams of approved partner status.
Relationships might be a two-way street, but university contracts aren’t. Like a pre-nuptial agreement, the terms are weighted to protect the institution, not the agent.
We are expected to meet targets and service standards, but universities themselves are under no obligation to confirm even the basic product details on time – like fees, scholarships or offers – all of which are essential to achieving those targets.
My personal view is that agent contracts should work like the football transfer windows, where changes can only be made in a few months of the year. That would stop mid-year indecision and enable us to operate with much more certainty.
As ‘buyers’ of our services, universities often think an effective relationship is one where money is being spent on fairs and marketing, as a shows trust and commitment.
Some universities send us constant emails about deadlines and updates – but not everything can be urgent, can it?
From our perspective, however, we are more interested in a university that wants to work together with us to achieve their goals. Sales targets will be met either way, but deeper cooperation is far more valuable to us.
Each contract is a badge of honour, where we have been entrusted to represent the university in the designated territory, and we want to do a good job for them.
It’s a relationship cliché, but communication is key.
I get generic newsletters from universities every day and they all start with the same “dear valued partner”, “dear representative” or even just “dear valued” – none of which make us feel valued at all.
Some universities send us constant emails about deadlines and updates – but not everything can be urgent, can it?
Other universities I never hear from for months at a time, neglecting our efforts yet expecting results.
The things that really matter are the activities that keep us connected such as time spent together on training, office visits, WhatsApp groups or joint meetings with applicants. Any activity that makes us (or the student) feel like we’re not just a name on a spreadsheet.
If you respect our expertise and local knowledge we can train universities on how best to position themselves in a market, while they train us on the best profile students for the university.
With the sector declining, it can be tempting for universities to increase the number of agents it works with. This is an understandable tactic, but it doesn’t always guarantee more students.
The grass is not always greener.
I can guarantee that most universities will already only have a limited percentage of productive agents in their current network, and a long trail of dormant or less productive agents that create a lot of headaches.
My advice would be to focus on the relationships you have already got. We can achieve so much more together if we focus on what a partnership means and what a student needs from both of us in this arrangement.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The PIE News.
