Hello, Insider Exposure of the Study Abroad Industry-consulting career makes my conscience uneasy. In a teahouse, when the reporter saw Kong Fang (a pseudonym), she was carefully drinking a cup of coffee and cocked her head, not knowing whether she was thinking or listening to music. Kong Fang in front of her is very different from her in the office. Her casual dress reveals her kind nature, but her professional ability can still be seen in her manners. Kong Fang said: "In fact, I am a quiet girl at heart. After work, I like to enjoy the quiet scenery or find a remote corner to enjoy soft music. But my colleagues think that I am a very strong girl and I am very determined to do things. " "Being a study abroad consultant was just an accident. I didn't know there was such a job when I was in college. I remember it was in 1999, when I just left school and looked for a job everywhere. Later, I was attracted by the boss of an intermediary company and started my career as a study abroad consultant. In the past five years, this job has given me the impression that you should keep a warm attitude, always smile at customers and try your best to get them to sign contracts. " Kong Fang said that in the process of helping people to study abroad, she often felt a little uneasy when she saw the parents of students who expected their success and their expectant eyes. Because according to the regulations, study abroad consultants should design suitable study abroad programs for applicants according to their academic qualifications and experience, but in practice, when designing study abroad programs for applicants, many consultants first consider whether they can do it or not, and whether there is a commission refund. "On one occasion, a child said he was going to study in Canada. I recommended a business school in Canada to him. All the formalities went smoothly and the child soon became an international student. Before leaving, the mother bought a big bag of things to thank us. Everyone in our office has one. I can see from her eyes that her gratitude to us is sincere, as if we were her saviors. But as far as the teaching quality of that business school is concerned, I dare not compliment students on how much they can learn from it. The reason why we want to disclose the inside story of the operation of the study abroad agent is that we hope some parents can find a better school for their children while spending less money, so as not to delay their children's future. " Kong Fang, an intermediary company, said that in general, the operation mode of study abroad intermediary companies is to advertise in the media, announce where to hold large-scale study abroad consultation and briefing sessions, and invite enrollment representatives from many well-known foreign universities to introduce the current study abroad trends, study abroad policies and the teaching situation of foreign universities, so as to attract students and parents to come for consultation. Usually this practice is very effective, because many people want to send their children to study abroad, but they know nothing about the study abroad policy. Every time our company holds a study abroad consultation meeting, hundreds of people attend. In fact, the lecture on studying abroad is to publicize the teaching quality of foreign universities and distribute a large number of university publicity materials printed with our consultation telephone number. Every student and parent present will also be asked to leave their names and contact information. After the briefing, many people will definitely come to our company, and sometimes our study abroad consultants will take the initiative to call the parents who left their names, hoping to persuade them to do it. Many parents send their children to study abroad in the hope that their children can go abroad and get a "foreign diploma". As for what children can learn there, how much they learn is not the main thing. And for most families who want to send their children to study abroad, economic conditions are no longer a problem. What they care about is whether our intermediary company can send their children abroad smoothly, and they don't care about spending more money. Knowing this, as long as the intermediary company does according to its own ideas, it is easy to satisfy the parents of students. Cheating and profiteering abound, Kong Fang said, but at present, the dissatisfaction with the study abroad agent is far greater than satisfaction. The irregular service of study abroad agents mainly focuses on two aspects, one is cheating, the other is profiteering. The so-called deception means that some study abroad agencies exaggerate in introducing students to study abroad or in publicity materials, taking advantage of the fact that the parties concerned do not know enough about foreign schools. It is said that the schools contacted by overseas students are all famous local schools with strong teachers and teaching conditions, and their academic qualifications and degrees are recognized by local education authorities or corresponding institutions. But in fact, the so-called famous universities are low-grade universities or private training institutions that are not recognized by local education authorities or corresponding institutions. Some schools were even hastily built by local people with a few third-and fourth-rate teachers and administrators. When the parties get there, they can't receive formal and systematic education at all. This is the reason why many international students were forced to transfer or drop out of school after going abroad last year. The source of these problems lies in the poor qualifications of overseas schools. The original intention of studying abroad is to accept foreign high-quality educational resources, but spend a lot of money on the "full moon" abroad, hoping to turn children into talents in line with international standards in the future. What's the point of studying abroad if the school you go to is "inferior" or fake at all? However, the intermediary of studying abroad lacks the real project audit work, and the international students and parents lack the vigilance and necessary common sense to distinguish authenticity. Therefore, it is particularly important to remind that foreign students who apply for studying abroad through the study agency must check the Qualification Confirmation Form of Foreign Educational Institutions issued by China's embassies and consulates abroad, which contains 1 1, including the nature of the school, the level of running a school, the degree awarded, and whether the degree has been recognized by the education authorities or authorized agencies of the host country. , as well as the name, address, contact information and establishment of the school in Chinese and foreign languages. Through this form? It is easy to judge the actual situation of foreign schools. Intermediaries often make a fuss about the translation of publicity materials, such as translating foreign professional schools into comprehensive universities; Translate the certificate of completion into a degree certificate or something. The usual method is to steal the concept, such as declaring that "as long as we complete the courses of our cooperative foreign language training school and obtain the certificate recognized by a university, we will have the opportunity to enter the university for further study". In fact, "having a chance" does not mean "being sure". In order to get the service fees, tuition deposits and high kickbacks of overseas schools, intermediaries specially look for language schools with relatively easy visas and admission when contacting schools. Due to the misleading of intermediary agencies, many foreign students have no school to enter after the language training class, and they are in a dilemma. In addition to making false propaganda in materials, some intermediaries also exaggerate their abilities in advertisements: "No matter your educational background or education level, you can easily realize your dream of studying abroad with the company's strong government background, perfect' packaging' skills and visa rate of over 95%." In fact, there are many uncertainties about the success of the visa. In addition, contract fraud is also an aspect. At present, there is no unified and standardized contract text of intermediary service for studying abroad in China. The intermediary takes advantage of the weakness that the customer is unfamiliar with the application process and writes some ambiguous and seemingly fair terms in the contract, which actually harms the interests of the customer. For example, I promised to help you contact housing with good conditions or provide job opportunities after entering the university, but I deliberately avoided the liability for breach of contract. Some intermediaries will not write the details of the agreement into the contract before providing services. Huge profits mean that some intermediary companies have high profits. As far as Anhui is concerned, the intermediary service fee charged by the intermediary company to each international student is about 1 000 yuan. If this project is not in cooperation with other companies, the company's profit will be at least 80% after deducting 5% commission from the intermediary service fee of 6.5438+0 million yuan, because the cost of intermediary service for studying abroad is limited to office expenses and rent. Intermediary companies generally promise in publicity that they will not charge a penny if they are unsuccessful. But in fact, as long as you sign a contract with an intermediary company, the service fee of 5,000 yuan paid in the first phase can rarely be fully refunded, because the contract will indicate that "the company will deduct part of the deposit because the applicant cannot successfully obtain a visa for personal reasons." Another source of income for intermediary companies is that some schools return commissions. Many foreign universities or language schools, in order to attract intermediary companies to recommend more students to them, will promise to the intermediary agencies when signing project cooperation agreements with domestic intermediaries, and the schools will return a certain proportion of the tuition fees paid by the intermediary agencies for every international student sent to them. According to the regulations, the information and consulting services of study abroad agencies cannot be charged, only the admission notice and visa service fees are charged. Because there is no specific regulation on the application fee for studying abroad in China, it is convenient for intermediaries to charge fees under various excuses. Some intermediary companies not only make excuses when charging fees, but also falsely report tuition fees. When some unreasonable fees add up, the applicant will inadvertently lose a lot of money, and the visa is still far away. If the visa is rejected, the applicant will ask for a refund, and the intermediary will delay it for another year and a half. In addition, when applying for studying abroad, many intermediaries fabricate false materials, provide false certificates and even hire people to take exams for unqualified applicants in order to achieve the purpose of going abroad. However, the intermediary agency Metropolis wrote in the contract that "if the situation is not true, the consequences will be at your own risk". Once the false materials are rejected, the intermediary institutions will push all the responsibilities and charge the fees correctly. Even if you are lucky enough to pass the visa, there are still risks of exposure abroad. Welcome to ask questions to 158 Education Online.