Students as Informants: Methodological Considerations in Education Agent Research

Education agents serve an important role in assisting and facilitating prospective international students in their information seeking and application processes (Yang et al., 2020).Across the globe, education institutions and prospective students contract agents in order to simplify the complex process of navigating a range of study opportunities and formal processes (BUILA, 2021; Nikula et al., 2023).Many institutions and students appear satisfied with the services provided by agents (BUILA, 2021;Huang et al., 2022;QUILT, 2024;Roy, 2017).However, actors operating in this industry have also been reported to behave in an unethical manner.Examples of such behaviours range from providing students with false information, overpromising, forging documents, writing personal letters on behalf of students, and other unwanted behaviours (Fittante, 2023;Ghosh & Garrison, 2024;Nikula & Kivist, 2020; Parliamentary Joint Committee, 2023).This type of misconduct has made the use of agents controversial and has prompted calls for stronger quality assurance mechanisms and more robust evidence to identify which agents are reliable partners (Nikula et al., 2023).To achieve this, the student perspective is essential, but collecting it presents several methodological challenges (Nikula et al., 2025).This article examines these methodological issues in light of our previous and ongoing research. Which Types of Agents?The word 'agent' can be used to refer to a range of actors such as university-contracted education agents, independent education counsellors, and migration agents (Nikula et al., 2023; 2025;Roy, 2017).These actors serve somewhat overlapping, but also distinct functions.They