Brokering International Education and (re)producing Class in Mumbai

Abstract

This article discusses the role that education brokers play in the decision‐making processes of international students in Mumbai, India. Drawing on 80 interviews with students and education brokers, the analysis reveals how the services that brokers provide, and who accesses them, are shaped by the class status of prospective international students within the localized and granular hierarchies of Mumbai's upper‐middle‐class. Brokers are divided into agents and counsellors, who offer different service models and draw their clientele from two distinct segments of the upper‐middle‐class: “South Mumbai elites” and “suburban strivers”. Within these subtly differentiated landscapes of brokerage, advice from brokers can make certain students vulnerable, or hierarchise specific study destinations and trajectories. This article argues that attending to granular class differentiation within international education brokerage illuminates inequalities that exist within student cohorts from the same locality. It also outlines the policy implications of these inequalities in both sending and receiving countries.

International Recruitment in Canadian Higher Education: Factors Influencing Students’ Perceptions and Experiences with Education Agents

“…Education agents have played an important role in bridging HEIs and international students, as well as exerting subtle and lasting influences (Bista, 2017;Dunstan, 2011;Kauppinen et al, 2014;Newcomb, 2017;Raimo, 2013;Raimo et al, 2014;Robinson-Pant & Magyar, 2018;Tian, 2017;Tuxen & Robertson, 2018;Yu, 2016). In Dunstan (2011)'s study of agents in the context of Australia, she noted that agents were an indispensable part of Australian international education since over 60% of international students were recruited through agents.…”

“…In one such study, research had been conducted with international office staff and it was found that there was an absence of transparency in the agent-HEI relationship as well as commission arrangements where agents were compensated for their work in recruiting students to a university (Robinson-Pant & Magyar, 2018). Fraudulence was another recurring issue noted in agent practices (Bista, 2017;Kauppinen et al, 2014;Newcomb, 2017;Tuxen & Robertson, 2018;Yu, 2016). Newcomb (2017)'s interview with eight undergraduate admission officers who assessed international students at highly selective HEIs in the United States revealed examples of inaccurate descriptions in applicants' resume, falsified documents, and fraudulence in standardized tests.…”

“…Although Altbach (2013) forthrightly stated that "agents and recruiters are impairing academic standards and integrity and should be eliminated or severely curtailed" (p. 129), other researchers argued for education agents and explored ways to manage them (Brabner & Galbraith, 2013;Chang, 2013;Coco, 2015;Tuxen & Robertson, 2018;Yang & Akhtaruzzaman, 2017). There have been studies that focused on the agent-HEI relationship, such as the five types of management mechanisms based on the use of power (coercive; non-coercive; hybrid) and control measures (performance-driven; incomedriven) (Huang et al, 2016).…”

“…Due to the fierce competition and the many benefits associated with international students, collaborating with education agents in international recruitment has become highly prevalent in top destination countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada that without agents, the recruitment process of international students would be very difficult (Brabner & Galbraith, 2013;Roy, 2017). Meanwhile, students from certain regions, such as Asia, are experienced in using education agents for overseas studies rather than applying directly to higher education institutions (HEIs) (Bista, 2017;Roy, 2017;Tuxen & Robertson, 2018). Past literature has focused on education agents' role in Canadian education system and international students' in-depth encounters with education agents (Coffey, 2014;Coffey & Perry, 2013).…”

Future Migration Decisions: An Experimental Approach

“…Due to globalisation processes, national state policy initiatives, global marketisation (Findlay et al, 2016) of educational export, new migration stakeholder appear. Previous studies show different aspects of this process: recruiting of international students as skilled migrants (Ziguras and Law, 2006), the role of institutions for study migration (Basford and Riemsdijk, 2017), brokerage industry (Tuxen and Robertson, 2018) highlighting competition of 'world-class universities' (Prazeres et al, 2017) for the "best and brightest" (Findlay et al, 2012) in order to improve their job prospects (Heaviside et al, 2018). Many Western countries are competing to attract a global talent pool.…”