Our status: independence, registrations and agreements

What the words mean, so you can check any claim

The UK sector uses these terms with specific meanings. Knowing them lets you test what any service, including ours, says about itself.

• Education agent / recruitment partner. A business contracted by a university to recruit students for it, normally paid commission by the university. Universities publish lists of their appointed agents; if a company claims to represent a university and is not on that university's list, the claim is false. We are not one.
• Official or authorised representative. The same appointed, contracted agent, in the wording universities use on their "representatives in your country" pages. We are not one.
• Referral partner / introducer. Paid for introductions under a written agreement, without authority to act for the university. We hold no such agreement; if one is ever signed it will be listed above with its dates.
• Sub-agent. Works under an appointed agent's contract and must be disclosed to the university. We are not one.
• Independent counsellor / application-support service. Advises and supports students who pay for the service directly, with no contract with any provider. This is what we are.
• UCAS registered centre. An operational registration that lets a school or adviser submit and track applications and attach references. It is not a quality mark and not an endorsement by UCAS. We are not registered; you apply as an individual in your own UCAS account and we prepare and check everything with you.
• British Council certified agent and counsellor training. An individual training certificate, not an approval of an agency. We will publish ours when complete and will never describe it as "British Council approved".

How to check us, or anyone

1. Ask for the university's name and the agreement type for any claimed partnership, then look for the company on that university's published representative list.
2. Ask whether the service receives commission from universities and whether its fee is separate from university costs. Ours is, and we receive none.
3. Ask who submits the application and in whose account. With us, it is yours, and nothing is submitted without your recorded approval.
4. Ask what exactly is included for the fee (our services page lists deliverables and exclusions) and for the refund policy and the service terms in writing before paying: ours and our refund policy are published.