TODAY ONLINE : New scheme to deter errant agents

New scheme to deter errant agents
by Lin Yan Qin 05:55 AM Nov 20, 2009

SINGAPORE - Some overpromise on the school's facilities; others tell potential students they can work while they pursue their studies here - all in a bid to profit from a foreign student's move to study in Singapore.

And it is these practices which are the target of new criteria under the voluntary EduTrust scheme - the quality certification under the recently introduced Private Education Act. This puts the onus on private education institutions (PEIs) to ensure the student agents they engage to recruit foreign students for their schools, are not resorting to underhanded means to get business.

While the PEIs MediaCorp spoke to all declared themselves ready to meet the new requirements, some wonder if tougher measures are needed to arrest the problem of errant agents.

"You can have schools collaborating with agents just to make money," said a private language school instructor, who did not want to be named.

"If we don't make agents more accountable, they can still get away with making a quick buck, moving from one school to the next."

Under the new criteria - necessary for schools which want to recruit foreign students - PEIs have to meet certain requirements for evaluating and training agents before they can start recruiting.

These include signing contracts with the agents and ensuring they do not misrepresent the PEI or provide misleading information to students.

In addition, PEIs are required to collate feedback from students on the services provided by the agents as part of their monitoring process.

"Students who are over-reliant and have not done their due diligence may be misled by errant agents," said Mr Alan Phua, managing director for domestic operations at Informatics Education. He added that although some of the schools were already meeting some of the conditions, making them compulsory would force all schools to fall into line and improve the situation.

A serious case last year involved Columbia Business School, where some foreign students brought in by agents were told that they could work eight hours for $700 a month while attending three hours of classes each day. Less radical claims usually involve exaggerating the size of the school and its facilities.

"We have had agents (who) overpromise, telling foreign students (they) can work and study here, which is not true," said Technology, Management and Communications (TMC) Educational Group student recruiting and marketing director Lemmy Teo.

Agents can make about 10 to 20 per cent of the first-year course fees from PEIs for every student recruited - and the commission is higher from less well-known PEIs which rely more heavily on them to bring in the students.

"For agents that are in it for the money, they don't care about the quality of the school at all. They just recommend schools paying the highest commission," said student agent Yeo Eng Chiang.

For better assurance of quality, students are encouraged to consider PEIs with EduTrust certification, said the Education Ministry.

Also, prospective students seeking the services of recruitment agents are advised to check on the authenticity of the agents and to ascertain that they accurately represent the PEIs and courses they wish to enrol in. One resource they can refer to is the list of Singapore Education Specialists maintained by the Singapore Tourism Board.

Licensing could take regulatory efforts even further, schools felt.

"Licensing agents will make it easier for us as schools to keep track of what they do and tap on agents with the best track records," said TMC Educational Group's Dr Teo.

Mr Daniel Chu, president of the Association of Consultants for International Students (Singapore), agreed, saying that the present situation had too many loopholes for agents to get away with unscrupulous behaviour, even with the EduTrust new requirements.

"It's like why they decided to regulate property agents ... there's no stopping an errant agent from continuing to work as an agent somewhere else even if you sack him," said Mr Chu, whose company recruits foreign students.

The Education Ministry, he added, had not consulted the association when it drew up the Private Education Act. "I think we should have been part of the process, given that we play a crucial role in the industry," he said.

When asked, the Ministry said it had held two public consultation exercises before the Act was enacted. As to whether licensing was an option, it would only say that suggestions will be considered.

Though he was in favour of licensing, Dr Teo felt that getting schools to be accountable for their agents' actions was a good start to regulating the industry.

"Any school that wants to bring in foreign students will need to comply, and that will have a big impact on schools making sure they don't work with rogue agents, so there will definitely be some improvement," he said.