Agents Guide 2019

Agent Services Team Representatives Guide

Welcome from Director of International Development

Despite the challenges and uncertainties in the world economy, and an ever more competitive global market in Higher Education, Northumbria University continues to enjoy success in attracting significant numbers of high-quality students from countries worldwide.

The number of undergraduates and postgraduates who travel from outside of the UK to our campuses in Newcastle upon Tyne continues to thrive and this year the University has over 3,500 international students in the United Kingdom, and a similar number studying Northumbria programmes at our partner institutions overseas. I would like to thank all of our representatives for the dynamic contribution they make to our international student recruitment activity.

Representatives of Northumbria University overseas bear a high degree of responsibility. Maintaining quality, and ensuring that students are well prepared for their studies, is just as important as meeting recruitment targets. It is vital that representatives help us to ensure that students have appropriate academic achievement and potential, as well as the required level of fluency in written and spoken English to give them the best chance of succeeding on their chosen programme. With your help, our aim is also to be as responsive and supportive as possible to prospective students, when they are considering studying with us. However, we realise that our success is shared, and the aim is for us to work together as closely as possible, to ensure both parties achieve their goals. To that end, we will be contacting you more frequently, looking to understand what support you need from us, and ensuring you have all the information you need to perform effectively. Equally, you will be getting regular contact from your main liaison person at Northumbria, to make sure you have all the training, support and materials you require.

Northumbria is a research-engaged and business-focused institution, which is seeking, in the years ahead, to strengthen and further its position as one of a new type of excellent university. Strong in the fundamental activities of research and teaching, the University’s commitment to quality is reflected be the consistent rise in its admissions standards. Northumbria works closely with industry and the professions to ensure that degree programmes are recognised and greatly valued by employers around the world.

We look forward to many more years of successful partnership.

Rob Carthy Director of International Development

Section 1 Northumbria University Yesterday and Today Northumbria is a research-rich, business-focused, professional university with a global reputation for academic excellence. It is based in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne, which is regularly voted the best place in the UK for students.

The University has its origins in the Rutherford College, founded in 1880. Today, by putting students at the heart of an outstanding experience, and with world leading research and award-winning partnerships, Northumbria is a new kind of excellent university; we have over 30,000 students, 4,000 of which are international students and there are over 100 nationalities on campus, attending over 400 courses. Northumbria was also shortlisted in the 2018 Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards for International Strategy of the Year and the University also came 6th in the University of the Year category at the Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2018.

Northumbria is top ten in the UK for the number of graduates entering professional employment and nine out of ten of our graduates are working or studying six months after graduation. Northumbria works with major employers, including Nike, IBM, Nissan, Proctor & Gamble, the BBC, and the NHS, while more than 560 employers and 60 professional bodies sponsor or accredit the University’s programmes. Innovative and entrepreneurial, we are also ranked first in the UK for graduate business start-ups (HEBCIS 2016/17).

Northumbria has four campuses; City Campus, Coach Lane, London and the new Amsterdam Campus.

The City Campus, in the heart of Newcastle, has undergone a stunning transformation thanks to a large investment; students will experience state of the art teaching and library facilities and the new Student Central, a hub for students on campus, and the flagship Sport Central facility. Students can also access the library and IT facilities 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Coach Lane Campus is only three miles from the city centre and is home to Education, Nursing, Healthcare and Social Work students; it has its own Students Union, fitness suites, sports facilities and Library.

Northumbria University London Campus offers students Northumbria’s academic quality and outstanding experience in the UK’s capital city, establishing this University’s provision in two of the UK’s top student cities, Newcastle and London.

In 2018, Northumbria opened a campus in Amsterdam in partnership with a high-quality Dutch HEI Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS). Northumbria University Amsterdam Campus has already welcomed its first cohort of international students studying for Masters Degrees in both Business and in Project Management. Based in the heart of Amsterdam, the campus is set to expand to teach 600 postgraduate and 200 undergraduate students per annum. It will also serve as a platform for high-quality research and knowledge exchange activities with EU partners, academic collaboration and study exchange opportunities for students from both the UK and the Netherlands.

Our Alumni Sir Jonathan Ive – Senior Vice President of Design at Apple Inc.

Victoria Pendleton CBE, Britain’s most successful female track cyclist and Olympic Gold medalist

Warren Trezevant, Animator and Creative Lead for Dimensional Animation at Disney Pixar

Jonathan Marchbank, CEO of Virgin South Africa – now CEO of Virgin Malaysia and SVP Middle East

Amanda Berry OBE, Chief Executive of BAFTA

For more details click here: northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/alumni-profiles/notable-alumni

Northumbria Contacts United Kingdom Office International Development 1st Floor, Pandon Building Newcstle upon Tyne NE1 8 ST

Staff Details: Agent Services Team Tel: (+44) 191 227 4865, 227 4639 Email: fc.agent@northumbria.ac.uk

Applicant Services Applicant Services 1st Floor, Pandon Building Newcastle Upon Tyne

Staff Details: Application enquiries: Tel: +44 191 406 0901 Email: bc.applicantservices@northumbria.ac.uk

China Regional Office

Staff Details:

Northumbria University Room 1610, Block B Winterless Centre Jia 1, Xi Da Wang Road Chaoyang District Beijing 100026 P. R. CHINA

Sunny Sun, Head of China Operations

India Regional Office

Staff Details:

Northumbria University India Liaison Office 1606 Spaces Level 16 Building 9A Cyber City DLF Phase-2 Gurugram Haryana 122002 India

Ashwini Thakur, Regional Director- South Asia

Malaysia Regional Office

Staff Details:

Northumbria University A-8-3, 8th Floor, Northpoint Midvalley City 1 Medan Syed Putra Utara, 59200 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Nina Jalaluddin, Head of Development (Malaysia Region) Siewmang Yee

Email: chinaoffice@northumbria.ac.uk Tel: + 86 10 6538 8135/ 8137/ 8139

Email: indiaoffice@northumbria.ac.uk Tel: +91-124-4020550

Email: malaysiaoffice@northumbria.ac.uk Tel: 00 603 2287 8080

Thailand Regional Office

Staff Details:

Northumbria University 283/46 Unit 1001-1, 10th FL. Home Place Bldg Sukhumvit 55 (Thonglor 13) Bangkok, THAILAND 10110

Zarak Rafiq, Regional Manager Email: thaioffice@northumbria.ac.uk Tel: 00 66 2044 6430

Section 2 How we work with you We have designed this guide to help you learn more about the University, how we can work with and support you, and also to identify the staff from both the Newcastle International Development Office and each of our Regional Offices. We have outlined some of the most important pieces of information which will help you advise students as well as the processes we require you to follow. This guide is not meant to contain every single piece of information, much of which can change over time or with new governmental guidelines, etc. This guide should instead accompany other information found on our website, in our international prospectus or sent out to you regularly. We will provide updates at our agent conference and of course during the face-to-face contact that is so important with academic, Regional Office or Central International Development staff.

Our support for you International Development has a dedicated Agent Services Team who should be your first port of call for anything related to agreements, publications, any problems you are encountering and commission invoices and payments. They can be contacted by emailing fc.agent@northumbria.ac.uk. The University provides a number of training and information resources to help you with the task of advising and recruiting prospective students.

The University’s International and Regional Offices will be pleased to help if you have any questions about course entry requirements, fees or any other aspect of being a student at Northumbria. We have also produced “Admissions Information for Representatives” to support you with application processes.

Marketing and advertising To help raise Northumbria’s profile in specific markets Northumbria may undertake a range of marketing activity. This may include attending exhibitions and fairs, interviewing students in representative offices or on some occasions advertising either online or in the press. Wherever possible Northumbria will try and undertake measurable activity which will coincide with either academic or International Development staff visiting a particular region. It will not always be possible to make specific reference to individual representatives.

Course information In addition to contact from our Regional Offices, the International Development Office will keep our representatives up-to-date with new courses via its website and update emails, which also contains other information which may help promote the University. The Northumbria website contains course listings which will allow students and representatives to obtain information on course fees and possible discounts, visit northumbria.ac.uk/study-atnorthumbria for more information.

Accommodation

If visiting representatives offices to interview students Northumbria would expect the representative company to have done its own marketing to provide suitable candidates.

Advertising funded by representatives Any advertising, publicity or marketing material (including web-based) which features the Northumbria University name or its logo must be sent to the International Development Office for approval prior to publication. A copy of the final advertisement or news item taken from the publication should be forwarded to the International Development Office.

Northumbria publications In addition to raising its profile, Northumbria University produces a range of communications and publications to support representatives and potential students. These currently include an international prospectus and international video as well as utilising the full range of University publications such as the undergraduate, postgraduate and research prospectus. In addition to this guide Northumbria International Development will send electronic communications directly to students to provide them with information, such as our early payment schemes or other useful information which may assist successful conversion. The Northumbria website is also a very important tool for students and representatives and we list our current representatives by country, as well as providing a range of other useful information. Visit northumbria.ac.uk/ international to find out more.

With 5000 rooms, we have some thing to suit everyone. All students living in the city are in walking distance of our world class campus as well as Newcastle City Centre. For more information see our website northumbria. ac.uk/study-at-northumbria/accommodation. Everyone is welcome in our accommodation, from new and returning students, to undergraduates and postgraduates, both from the UK and around the world. In order to allow students to apply for accommodation, you must ensure that their personal email address is used in their application as this will be used to generate a log in for them on the system. This log in cannot be sent to an agents address due to data protection regulations.

Commission Rates The rates of commission payable on students you recruit are contained in our commission schedule which forms part of your agreement, and can be found near the end of the agreement. Details of our schedule for payment, which lists all claim deadlines, is updated and distributed on a yearly basis. You will have been given an Agent Code from the Agent Services Team. Please ensure that you use this code on all applications as this is our way of identifying a student as from your company, and confirms that commission is due to you. If these codes aren’t used it can delay payment. This Agent code along with a login which we will be issued to you will give you access to the Agents Portal. This portal will allow you to check which students we have listed against your agency, and see the status of their application as it progresses. You will be able to verify that all of your students are logged against your code which will speed up our payment processes.

Commission Payments You are no longer required to submit an invoice in order to to claim commission. Students are logged to agents at the point of application and following enrolment statements will be sent to those agents due a commission payment by the dates given in the commission schedule (page 11). Statements will include payment details for new students enrolled and progression payments for students who have successfuly progressed onto the following year of their course. If you do not recieve a statement and feel you are due commission please contact fc.agent@northumbria.ac.uk with details of the students in question so it can be investigated further.

Review of performance and contract renewal The University aims to develop and support long-term partnerships with professional representatives. We will review the performance of all representatives every other year in most cases (usually in March). This review will take account of: • The quality and completeness of applications • Conversion ratio of applications to enrolments • Visa success rate • The number of students with a visa who do not enrol • The number of students, who withdraw, defer or fail to attend after arrival in the UK • Academic achievement, grades, and English qualifications on entry • Professional and ethical conduct

Code of good practice for Northumbria representatives We greatly value the contribution of you, our representatives overseas, who have played an important role in helping us to become one of the UK’s most successful universities. The work you do in representing Northumbria and promoting the University to potential students is of great importance – counselling them, helping them with the application process, guiding them on their visa application and preparing them for their studies in the UK. We would ask that all of our representatives follow the UK Council for International and Student Affairs Code of Ethics (https://ukcisa.org.uk/Membership/ Codes-of-practice/Code-of-ethics) , and the British Council Guide to Good Practice for Education Agents (britishcouncil.org/sites/ britishcouncil.uk2/files/guide-to-goodpractice-for-education-agents.pdf) along with our own code below.

This Code highlights some of the most important things we ask our representatives to do and it should be read in conjunction with the Representative Agreement.

Good ambassadors The University appoints agents to represent the University in an effective and professional manner and to maintain the highest standards of student recruitment practice, and providing an excellent student experience. The University places real importance on the whole student experience, not only during their studies but from the point of first enquiry. We would like the level of care you provide to the student before his or her departure for Northumbria to match the level of care they receive during their time at the University.

Selecting good students Northumbria has a high entry standard amongst the modern universities and our aim is to recruit capable students who, through their achievements, improve the reputation of the University as a whole. Also we are interested in only recruiting those students who are serious about studying and completing their course. Applicants should clearly meet the academic and English language requirements for their chosen course. If a student’s qualifications are ‘border-line’ there is less chance of being accepted and their application may take longer to process. If you are unsure about the entry requirements please ask International Development Staff before sending an application.

Students Changing Representatives Northumbria actively discourage Representatives transferring or seeking to transfer any student or prospective student from or to another agent. This is because situations arise where the initial agent undertakes the majority of the work with the application and support for the student, to then find out the student has gone elsewhere so they won’t be paid commission for their work.

However, if there is evidence of problems or a lack of support from the initial agent resulting in the student needing to transfer, we accept that a change can be necessary, and we will investigate the issues fully if the agent in question is another of our representatives. If a transfer is necessary then please an“Agent Transfer/Nomination” form will need to be completed with as much detail as possible on the issues encountered.

The student must inform the original agent that they have transferred.

As stated in the Representative agreement terms you cannot claim commission for students who have applied directly and already hold an offer. Payment disputes in which more than one agent claims for a student will be settled by the University, at our discretion. We will make a fair and reasonable judgement in each case, but will not pay out more than the value of the single commission payment for the enrolment.

Finding the right course Your students should fully understand the course they have applied for and in their Personal Statement they should explain their reasons for choosing this course. A detailed course description is normally available on our website https:// www.northumbria.ac.uk/ study-at-northumbria/. However, if a student needs any additional information please contact us with any queries.

Checking financial ability Check that your students have the financial resources to cover all their study and living costs, in addition to the financial evidence they are required to show for their visa. It is vital that they are able to complete their course without any financial problems.

Checking original documents Thoroughly check that all original academic and financial documents are genuine before you submit the application. Any students found to be submitting fraudulent documents will have their place withdrawn.

Giving clear and accurate information Provide students with clear information about the University, their studies and about living in the UK, so that they are fully prepared before they accept their offer and travel to the UK and so that their expectations are matched by their experience at Northumbria. This includes information about: • Tuition fees, payment and deposit terms • The costs of living in the UK • Courses • Accommodation • University regulations including: • Terms and Conditions of Offer • The Student Regulations Handbook* • Payment Terms, Deposit and Refund Policy (in Terms and Conditions of Offer) (*Available from the northumbria. ac.uk/vc/ leservteam/stud_reg_ handbk) Visa application and renewal Please refer to the guidance on applying on our website regarding Visa applications and renewals northumbria.ac.uk/international/ international-admissions/immigration-visas.

Your students must be familiar with the latest regulations and application procedure for student visa application and for visa renewal, in case they need to extend their leave during their studies. It is important that students are made aware of the costs of visa application and renewal.

Student visa conditions and Tier 4 Sponsor duties Brief your students about the importance of knowing and complying with the conditions of their visa.

Please make students aware that the University has a duty to fulfil certain record keeping and reporting duties as a Tier 4 Sponsor. As part of these duties the University is required to keep copies of students’ passports, visas and their contact details and also to report to the UKVI on students’ Tier 4 sponsorship and enrolment status. The University is also required to inform the UKVI of students who do not enrol at the University by the course start date or if they withdraw, interrupt their studies, are excluded or do not attend their programme.

Attending class It is particularly important for students to attend their entire course but if there are any problems affecting their attendance they should discuss this with their School immediately.

Paying fees on time If students are unable to pay their fees by the due date, unfortunately they will be excluded from the University and the University will be obliged to report them to the UKVI for nonattendance. However, the University’s aim is to allow students to undertake their studies without any unnecessary disruption. If a student is concerned that they may have problems paying by the due date, they should contact our Finance Department for advice as soon as possible before the deadline.

Applying early Encourage students to apply as early as possible, even if they are awaiting exam results, so that they have enough time to complete the application, payment and visa process and arrive on time for induction and enrolment.

Enrolling on time Your students must arrive on time to attend their induction programme which is very important for helping students settle in to the University before their course starts. Do not allow students to miss the start of their course which is stated in their offer letter. If they miss the start date or last enrolment date they will not be allowed to enrol at the University and they will be breaching the terms of their visa. We understand that visa delays sometimes cause late arrival. In these cases always contact us immediately. If a student thinks they might arrive late, they must not travel unless the University has given written permission to enrol at a later date.

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Agent Commission Payments Schedule Calendar of Key Dates 2018/19

English Summer School and Semester One Payment Schedule (Phase 1): 20 September – 22 October 2018 Enrolment Period - Tuition fee checks to be completed by Northumbria University.

Please note, invoices are no longer required.

29 October – 9 November 2018 Statement emails sent to agents.

18 November 2018 Deadline for Agents queries on statement emails.

On or around 17 December 2018 Payments should reach agent bank accounts.

Semester Two Payment Schedule (Phase 2): 17 January – 18 February 2019 Enrolment Period - Tuition fee checks to be completed by Northumbria University.

Please note, invoices are no longer required.

25 February – 8 March 2019

Statement emails sent to agents.

15 March 2019

Deadline for Agents queries on statement emails.

On or around 19 April 2019

Payments should reach agent bank accounts.

Please note that invoices are no longer required. We will be sending statements to our agents to confirm enrolled students and payment amounts. Please ensure that any statement queries are sent to Northumbria by the given deadline or we may not be able to process your commission payment.

Bonus Payments Bonus payments will be processed automatically after 19 April 2019.