Issues

The student counsellor needs to understand what kind of practices they must follow in order to maintain ethical behaviour.

Information

The student counsellor should make sure to:

• Check that information does not result in misleading or unfair comparisons between institutions
• Check that the institutions have supplied accurate and up-to-date information
• Check that the information is in a language the students can understand.

Advertising and Promotion

Deceptive Advertising

It is important that advertising does not mislead students, even though it will seek to inform students of the benefits of studying at a particular institution or course. A course outcome can be misleading if false claims are made about:

• Likely employment on successful completion
• An institution’s facilities
• The local environment.

Unfair Comparisons

Similar to deceptive advertising, false comparisons can be drawn between courses or education institutions to make a course or institution appear more or less appealing. For example, the name of an institution may be similar to a prestigious institution; suggestions that the two are linked may unfairly promote the first institution.

Legal Issues

Illegal Advice about Visas

There is a fine line between providing general study advice and legal advice about student visas, so agencies may be tempted to provide this information unlawfully.

Privacy of Students’ Personal Details

In the normal course of events, the student counsellor learns a great deal of personal information about their students. It is important that they:

• Treat this information confidentially and carefully
• Do not pass it on to other businesses or people without the permission of the student.

Conflicts of Interest

Allegiances

Hidden Sub-Agent Networks

Many agencies form business relationships with other agencies, especially to form co-operative arrangements that allow them to cover a larger geographical area or represent more education institutions. Sub-agencies are not a problem if education institutions are fully informed of the arrangements. The institution should always approve where their marketing material is circulated and who is counselling students on their behalf.

However, some sub-agent networks are hidden from education institutions. This leads the institutions to believe that one agency alone is recruiting from a particular region when in fact a number of agencies are recruiting on their behalf but only one agency is submitting the documents. This practice may put the education institutions at risk under the destination country’s law.

Integrity

Fees and Commission

The student counsellor may handle student money in the form of tuition fees, deposits, travel, and accommodation costs, etc. Student money should be kept in secure accounts until due for payment, then paid promptly into the proper accounts.

Charging Hidden Fees

Some agencies charge students fees for their services progressively without informing them from the beginning. For example, once a student’s enrolment application was sent to selected education institutions, the student counsellor would begin to introduce new charges for student visa applications or medical checks. This is unethical.

Misrepresenting Fee Structures

There have been cases where student counsellors misrepresent the fee structure of some education institutions’ courses. For example, if students normally pay health insurance upon enrolment, the student counsellor would not inform them that it was included in the fee and would keep this portion of the money. When the students would arrive in the destination country, they would learn that their health insurance had not been paid and would be asked to pay this money again.

Unethical Placement for Commission

Some agencies recruit for a limited number of education institutions from which they can claim commission, leading to the temptation to persuade students to go to one of these institutions against their educational interests.

Fraud and Deception

Fraudulent Documents

There have been cases where student counsellors have knowingly submitted false documents to education institutions, and sometimes they have been involved in creating the false documentation. While many academic documents can be verified (such as university results), other documents can be more difficult to substantiate (such as work-related testimonials).

Deceptive Practices

There have been cases where student counsellors have arranged for other students to sit for language proficiency tests on behalf of a student who is weak in the language.

Non-genuine Students

There have been cases where student counsellors have obtained student visas for individuals who did not intend to study. The student counsellor must ensure that individuals travel to the destination country for the purpose of study.

Poaching Students

It is natural that sometimes students wish to change from using one agency to another. For example, they might want to apply to an institution that the first agency does not represent. However, some agencies engage in systematic “poaching.” This means that once a student has gained a substantial amount of information from one student counsellor, another student counsellor approaches them and offers some form of inducement (e.g., a fee discount) so the student changes to apply through the second agency. The original agency gets no commission for its initial work.

Similarly, some student counsellors induce students to change institutions in the same way without regard for educational suitability or outcomes. These practices are harmful as they set agencies and institutions against one another and promote the idea that recruitment alone is the only important aspect of the student counsellor’s role. This neglects the need to provide an ongoing support system to the student.

Extension Questions: For the student counsellor:

• How can advertising and promotion be protected from misinformation?
• What legal issues must the student counsellor be aware of?
• Does he/she have any potential conflicts of interest?
• How does he/she maintain integrity with regard to fees and commissions?
• How does he/she prevent fraud and deception?