Forty agents, forty ways of sending things
Your boarding house has a strong international intake. Applications come through education agents in several countries. One agent sends a zip file of scans. Another emails a Word document with the student's details and asks you to fill in your own form. A third sends updates to the head of boarding instead of admissions. Each asks, regularly, 'any news on my student?'.
Then, after the pupil starts, finance needs to work out which agent introduced them and what commission is due under which agreement. The answer is in an email somewhere from eighteen months ago.
Agents work outside your admissions system
Agents are an important channel, but most schools have no way for them to put applications straight into admissions. So everything comes by email, is retyped, and the connection between agent and pupil is noted only loosely. Agreements with agents are kept in a separate folder, with commission terms that vary by agent.
- Applications arrive in many formats and are retyped.
- Agents chase for updates by email and phone.
- The introducing agent is not always recorded on the pupil's record.
- Agent agreements and commission terms sit in a folder.
- Commission is calculated by hand after fees are paid.
What the email chain costs
Admissions time goes on retyping and answering status questions. Applications are slower, and in a competitive international market that matters. Disputes about who introduced a pupil are hard to settle without a record. And paying commission incorrectly, either too much or late, damages relationships with agents you rely on.
Visa and immigration requirements are outside what we advise on. Your school's own processes and advisers cover them; we only make sure the documents you ask for are collected and tracked.
The agent portal we build
- Each approved agent has a login to a portal branded as your school.
- Agents submit applications through the same questions as your normal registration form, with uploads for reports, documents and any English language results you ask for.
- Each application is recorded with the introducing agent, and duplicates, for example the same student through two agents, are flagged.
- Agents see the status of each of their applicants, so they do not need to email for updates.
- Messages between admissions and the agent are kept on the applicant's record.
- Agent agreements are recorded with their commission terms, and when fees are paid, the commission due is calculated under those terms for finance to check and pay.
| Task | Before | With the portal |
|---|---|---|
| Submitting an application | Emailed documents, retyped | Portal form with uploads |
| Status updates | Agent emails and calls | Agent sees status in portal |
| Recording the agent | Loosely, if at all | Stored on the pupil record |
| Two agents, one student | Discovered late | Flagged on submission |
| Commission | Worked out by hand | Calculated under the agreement for checking |
International admissions in one place
Applications from agents arrive complete and in the right format. The admissions team spends time on the students, not the paperwork. Agents know where things stand. And when finance needs to pay commission, the introducing agent and the terms are on the record.
On a normal morning, the registrar sees four new agent applications, one flagged because the same student was submitted by another agent last month. She resolves it with a note, and the other three move on to assessment scheduling.
At the end of each term, finance runs the commission report. It lists every pupil introduced by an agent whose fees have been paid, the agreement that applies, and the amount the terms produce. Finance checks it, queries anything unusual with admissions, and pays. Agents receive a statement showing which pupils the payment covers, which removes most of the questions that used to follow each payment run.
Signs you need an agent portal
- Agents send applications in many different formats.
- Admissions staff retype agent applications.
- Agents ask for status updates regularly.
- It is not always clear which agent introduced a pupil.
- Commission is worked out by hand from old emails.