SCIENCE & EDUCATION

UK universities recruited more than 50,000 international students through commission payments to overseas agents last year, spending close to £60 million on the practice in 2010-11, a Times Higher Education investigation has found.

Using data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, THE found that 100 universities enrolled 51,027 students in 2011, or the nearest recorded period, via a process involving agents paid on a commission basis.

This represents a significant proportion of all international students in the UK. In 2010-11, 174,225 non-European Union students enrolled on higher education courses in the country, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Meanwhile, a total of £57.8 million was spent on commission payments by 92 universities in 2010-11 or the nearest recorded period (an average of around £628,000 per institution). Of the 109 institutions that responded to THE's FoI request, 17 refused to release these data on the grounds of commercial sensitivity.

Payments made in 2010-11 do not relate exclusively to students recruited in 2011. But the figures suggest that universities handed over roughly £1,000 in agent fees for each student enlisted.

Almost all money paid to recruitment agents was on a per-student commission basis.

Source: Times Higher Education

Photo: Times Higher Education