INTERNATIONAL AGENT SURVEY

ICEF Agent Voice

Key insights from the latest survey of ICEF student recruitment agents from around the world.

Download the 2025 report

Launched in 2020, the ICEF Agent Voice survey delivers detailed feedback from agents, identifying the latest trends, opportunities, challenges, and threats affecting the industry. Over the course of five years, the survey has become the sector’s largest and most geographically diverse agent survey. Its unparalleled frequency, reach, and attention to detail, provides fresh insight into how agents continue to adapt to the latest global issues and challenges.

Each edition of ICEF Agent Voice features questions focused on a range of categories, including day-to-day operations and remuneration, recruitment projections, destination trends, student decision factors, employability, and other key areas.

About the 2025 survey

The 2025 edition of the survey emerges at a time of significant change for the industry. Student interests have continued to evolve, with an increasing focus on the practical barriers to and benefits of international study. At the same time, the policy shifts that affected recruitment across all study destinations continue to have an impact, with Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US seeing sweeping changes to visa and admissions guidance. As a result, a number of new study destinations have emerged to challenge the “big four”, creating a more competitive landscape, with students benefitting from greater choice than ever before.

The survey ran from April to September 2025, gathering responses from 1,225 agents across 113 countries. It provides detailed analysis of the issues currently faced by agents globally, documenting the prevailing industry trends, and providing a forecast for recruitment beyond 2025.

The ICEF Agent Voice 2025 report, sponsored by Flywire and Western Atlantic University School of Medicine examines key issues in international student recruitment across the following areas:

Agent recruitment projections and student decision drivers
Visa issues and approval rates
Employability
Key challenges and training needs
Online programme promotion
Agency operations and remuneration

Findings

Cost of living returned as the primary decision-making factor for students in 2025. This replaced ease of getting a visa, which briefly overtook cost of living as the primary concern last year.
An institution’s ranking returned to the top 5 decision-making factors, having been pushed from the list last year.
Demand for international education remains strong, but the range of study destinations is growing. The “big four”, while still immensely popular, are losing ground to destinations including Spain, Malaysia, China, Japan, and Germany, which are seen as more supportive and reliable.

Download the 2025 report

Findings

Students are increasingly focused on a return on their investment, with future employability and employment seen as key outcomes. With policy shifts in major study destinations making prospective students less certain of long-term employment potential, it is crucial that institutions effectively communicate the opportunities that exist.
This year’s survey identified that agents provide support well beyond admission, with agents offering support both during and post-study.
As the international student recruitment landscape increasingly focuses on compliance, agents overwhelmingly welcome training opportunities from partner institutions.

Download the 2025 report

Upcoming ICEF Events

Explore All Events