As an institution, we are committed to the UK Agent Quality Framework and pledge to create and maintain the highest standards of agent management, ensuring the UK remains a leading study destination for international students.
We want you to know that we will:
- Empower you to make an informed decision by providing you with A Student Guide to Choosing an Education Agent
- Ensure good agent governance and professionalism
- Promote ethical agent practices, professional knowledge and competency
- Increase transparency and accountability
What is the role of an agent?
An agent will guide you through the entire process of choosing and applying to a university, the role of an agent is to help and support you with your application to UK universities as well as assisting with visas, travel, and accommodation. Agents can be very helpful to international students who might be daunted by the process of applying to a university in a different country.
Agents should be able to:
- Advise you on the entry criteria for studying at Bangor University
- Help you select a programme that ties into your career aims and objectives
- Collate all of the documents required for the application
- Be aware of the university’s deadlines and policies
- Contact the university on your behalf when necessary
- Help you prepare for your visa application
Key points to consider when choosing an agent:
- Agents often work with lots of different universities, you can check who the agent is partnered with and if they work closely with certain universities. If a university partners with an agent, it is usually an endorsement of their quality and experience. Ultimately, you are responsible for researching to confirm that the university you are applying to is one that you are happy with, and that you will achieve your aims and objectives with the international study path you choose.
- Avoid agents whose primary motivation is to support your immigration to the UK. As UK government guidelines state, the primary purpose of your travel to the UK should be to study.
- Ask the right questions, ask about their success rate, ask how many students they’ve placed in an year etc.
- It is the university that will pay agents for successfully completed work in supporting students registering in the UK. You should not be charged by an agent.
- Agents are not able to make offers on behalf of the university. Once your application has been submitted, your application will be assessed by Bangor University, and it is the university that will issue a decision.
- There are several ways you can make payments to the university, and you should ensure that you do this yourself. Agents do not need to make payments on your behalf.
- Read the contract thoroughly, don’t be afraid to ask for clarifications of any of the terms and don’t hesitate to ask questions if you are unsure.
Bangor University works with agents from all over the world, click here and select your country to see what agents are available to you should you wish to enlist the help of an agent when making an application to study at Bangor.
There are several associations and bodies dedicated to assessing the quality of student agents who are there to help you, these include; UKCISA and BUILA.
If you want to find out more about Agent Quality Framework, visit British Council website.