Company: QS is a global leader in higher education services. We are the data analytics, performance insight provider and intelligence partner supporting university excellence across the world. Our student recruitment and enrolment solutions enable universities and business schools to connect with talented individuals that are seeking to further their academic progress and career development. Our portfolio of professional services includes consultancy, student mobility and academic partnerships management, and branding solutions. We publish highly visible university rankings, including the QS World University Rankings® which reaches a global audience of hundreds of millions of people.

Project Scope: Higher education is going through a period of sustained disruption, but market trends suggest continued demand for overseas education. We would like to understand general market size of the agency market to assess it for future expansion or potential acquisitions. To do so we need to review the key source markets of Undergraduate / General Masters and Business Masters / MBA candidates, identify key international educational agents and online platforms and analyze their models. To understand the market landscape players can be grouped based on the revenue, geography and target audience. QS will be happy to provide access to senior leader interviews to establish implementation feasibility.

Educational agent is any business that provides application, interview prep and visa application services to candidates that leads to direct enrolment within an institution.

Deliverables: A market scan written report or presentation (with data and findings supplied) with a particular focus on organisations which will be disrupted or can be the disruptors of the journey:

1. Large education agents into the UK, EU, Canada & Australia

2. Agent disruptors - solutions like Apply Board, Adventus, SchoolApply, Studylink, etc

3. Peer to peer tools, e.g. Unibuddy, Clearadmit, AccessPlatform, etc

4. Lead generation platforms, e.g. FindAnMBA, Poets&Quants, masterstudies, Chasedream, etc

5. Employer connectivity

6. Candidate - Education Provider matching algorithms

7. Organizations most likely to play a dominant role in 2025 and why

Resources: QS team will provide induction to the HE sector, clarify company’s priorities, supply data already obtained and recommend relevant experts and sources of information.

Means of Communication: Email, Microsoft Team, Zoom

Primary Contact: QS Project coordinator will be available for weekly catch-ups, as well as accessible via email when needed. For more information please contact Zoya Zaitseva: zoya@qs.com