Ministry mulls powers to ban student recruitment agents

By Yojana Sharma. New regulations currently being considered by China’s Ministry of Education could lead to a tightening of services provided by international student recruitment agents – to the extent of banning the operations of some altogether.
According to a recently published draft of the new regulation, provincial education authorities will be able to approve or reject intermediary agencies, strengthen supervision of their activities and have the power to ban foreign agencies from operating in China. The draft regulation, posted in Chinese on the ministry website for consultation until 5 November, stipulates that overseas agencies – including their representative offices in China – foreign-invested enterprises, Chinese-foreign joint schools and individuals shall not be engaged in ‘intermediary services’ in China. It applies to universities, high schools recruiting Chinese students and language schools.