In December 2016 I posted an Agent Alert about Beijing New Oriental Vision Overseas Consultancy, which is one of the largest education agents in China.
It followed a Reuters investigation into the company which alleged that it regularly engaged in college application fraud by writing application essays and teacher recommendations for students, and falsifying high school transcripts.
In early 2017 I followed up with another post looking at which institutions were still working with Beijing New Oriental Vision Overseas Consultancy. I also pointed out that the agent was certified by the American International Recruitment Council (AIRC), and that it was conducting an investigation into the allegations based on the Reuters article.
When I asked AIRC in February about the status of the investigation, I received this advice:
[testimonials style=”2″ margin_top=”” margin_bottom=””][testimonial name=”” company=”American%20International%20Recruitment%20Council” href=”” image=”https%3A%2F%2Fagentbee.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F09%2Fairc_big.jpg” button_text=”Read%20story”]%3Cp%3EWe%20are%20aware%20of%20the%20Reuters%20News%20Service%20report%20which%20mentions%20two%20AIRC-certified%20agencies.%C2%A0%20In%20accordance%20with%20AIRC%20procedures%20respecting%20information%20secured%20from%20media%20reports%2C%20the%20affected%20agencies%20have%20been%20asked%20to%20provide%20information%20relevant%20to%20the%C2%A0content%20of%20the%C2%A0media%20reports.%C2%A0%20AIRC%20staff%20will%20review%20the%20agencies%E2%80%99%20responses%20and%20determine%20whether%20further%20investigation%20by%20the%20Certification%20Commission%20is%20warranted.%C2%A0%20%C2%A0No%20inferences%20should%20be%20drawn%20from%20the%20fact%20that%20AIRC%20is%20undertaking%20this%20review.%C2%A0%20Further%20information%20on%20the%20AIRC%20complaint%20process%20and%20treatment%20of%20information%20secured%20from%20media%20reports%20will%20be%20found%20at%20%C2%A0%3Ca%20href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.airc-education.org%2Fcall-comments%22%20target%3D%22_blank%22%20rel%3D%22noopener%22%3Ehttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.airc-education.org%2Fcall-comments%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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I got in touch with the AIRC again this week to find out where the investigation landed. They responded very quickly with the following advice:
Beijing New Oriental Vision Overseas Consultancy seems not to have been impacted by the fallout from the Reuters article. In fact, quite the opposite. In the last financial year the company made a net revenue gain of 21.7% from the previous year. This equates to nearly $1.8bn in revenue, and a net income increase of $295m, in the last 12 months.
Manage Education Agent Risk
A single dishonest or unethical agent can hurt prospective students, and do huge damage to your brand and reputation in your international target markets.
Working with education agents offers huge opportunity and potential, but it’s also critical that institutions understand and manage the inevitable risks involved.
AgentBee provides a simple, inexpensive solution to protect your institution and prospective international students. Click here to find out more.
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