The recruitment agent in internationalized higher education: Commercial broker and cultural mediator

Robinson-Pant, Anna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3989-2272 and Magyar, Anna (2018) The recruitment agent in internationalized higher education: Commercial broker and cultural mediator. Journal of Studies in International Education, 22 (3). pp. 225-241. ISSN 1552-7808

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Abstract

The internationalization and marketization of higher education has resulted in U.K. universities’ increasing reliance on recruitment agents to boost international student numbers. This places agents and agencies in a position of considerable influence with regard to the educational choices that students make. These institutional and individual relationships have been investigated from a marketing perspective, contributing knowledge about the influence of recruitment agents on student decision making. However, this approach has limitations with regard to understanding the impact of agents on an international student’s subsequent experience in U.K. higher education. The article suggests that theoretical work on mobility, migration, and ethnographies of communication, including the geopolitics of text production, can provide useful lenses for analyzing how agents help international students navigate the journey into and through U.K. higher education. The notion of “cultural mediator” is introduced to analyze the role played by agents alongside that of commercial broker. We argue that future research, shaped by these alternative theoretical perspectives, may help to bridge the apparent gap in understanding between those working in international offices and those involved in teaching in an internationalized university.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	internationalisation,higher education,recruitment,agent
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Education and Lifelong Learning
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Literacy and Development Group
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	28 Mar 2018 09:30
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2022 03:40
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/66619
DOI:	10.1177/1028315318762485

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