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RESEARCH

2009 i-graduate ICEF Agent Barometer Survey Findings

When Will Archer, director of UK-based market research firm i-graduate, gets up to give a market intelligence seminar the room is usually "standing room only." His presentation at the 2009 ICEF Berlin Workshop was no exception. Archer was in Berlin to present the findings from the 2009 i-graduate ICEF Agent Barometer, the largest global survey of its kind, and he drew a packed house.

The 2009 survey received 1,033 responses from agents in 100 countries during a two-week survey period in September 2009. Taken together, these agencies accounted for 320,000 student referrals in 2009—a 25% increase over referrals reported by Agent Barometer respondents in 2008.

Archer began the presentation by noting several important aspects of context for this year's survey. These included new visa regulations in the UK, increasing safety concerns in Australia, the increasing use of agents by American universities, the global recession, the swine flu pandemic, and currency exchange fluctuations. He noted that all of these factors impacted the survey findings for this year and that many of them were likely to continue to influence the international education marketplace in the years ahead.

The 2009 i-graduate ICEF Agent Barometer provided some early indicators of how the market is taking shape now. Key findings included:

• 78% of respondents expect to place more students in the next 12 months than they did in the previous year.
• The major students mobility concerns cited by responding agents were visa processing (55%), global recession (54%), financial (48%), and swine flu/H1N1 (40%).
• Survey respondents cited the following as the most effective marketing strategies for education providers: guaranteed admissions, regular staff visits to agency offices, and quick response times to enquiries and applications.
• Respondents indicated that location and cost of study were the major factors influencing student choice in 2009.
• Among major English-speaking destinations, the attractiveness of the UK and Canada, as indicated by respondents, remained constant over the 2008 and 2009 surveys. However, the attractiveness of Australia as a study destination declined. In 2008, 49% of respondents rated Australia as "very attractive." In 2009, 42% of respondents did so. Conversely, the attractiveness of the US increased in 2009 (with 73% rating the US as "very attractive" as opposed to 68% in 2008).

The ICEF Agent Barometer is a unique global survey of qualified agents, and a joint venture of ICEF and i-graduate. Further information is available on the i-graduate website or by contacting i-graduate's Felice Nightingale or ICEF.

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