Home / News / eCom Learning Solutions, in collaboration with British Council, BUILA, UKCISA, and UUKI, a finalist for PIEoneer of the year award 2024!
eCom Learning Solutions, in collaboration with British Council, BUILA, UKCISA, and UUKI, a finalist for PIEoneer of the year award 2024!
eCom Learning Solutions is thrilled to announce that, in collaboration with the British Council, BUILA, UKCISA, and UUKI, we have been shortlisted for the prestigious PIEoneer of the Year award. This is in recognition of our work on the UK Agent and Counsellor Training and Engagement Hub, which supports the UK Agent Quality Framework (AQF).
Posted 24 May 2024
Empowering international student recruitment
The Hub is designed to ensure that agents and counsellors provide reliable and ethical support to UK-bound international students, maintaining the UK's status as a preferred study destination. Powered by our digital learning and assessment platform, eNetEnterprise, the Hub supports over 20,000 agents from 127 countries, including more than 8,000 who are UK certified.
An innovative digital learning and assessment solution
The first of its kind, the Hub is aimed at improving the expertise of agents and counsellors globally to enhance the pre-enrolment experience of UK-bound international students. It consists of:
- A national ethical code of conduct for agents
- A free online training course aimed at ensuring that agents have the most up-to-date information to enable them to fully support prospective students
- A database of certified agents who have signed up to the code and completed the training course, who students can trust to provide ethical and informed support
Global audience accessibility
Developed for a global audience by eCom Learning Solutions, the Hub is a market-disruptive model that ensures all agents and counsellors working with the UK have access to complimentary learning and certification about studying and living in the UK. This device-agnostic, highly secure, cloud-based solution, powered by eNetEnterprise, offers a self-service, fully accessible training and assessment suite, and has accelerated the qualification and certification process. Agents and counsellors new to the industry can upskill through training before taking an assessment, while those with more experience can proceed directly to the assessment stage to quickly become certified.
Increasing certification and credibility
On successful completion, agents and counsellors must commit to the UK AQF and National Code of Ethical Practice for UK Education Agents, before being added to British Council's publicly searchable database of Certified Agents. Leveraging eCom technology, the database helps international students quickly check their chosen agent is certified, enhancing the credibility of agents and counsellors, and also ensuring that international students and their families have swift access to timely and effective support, from qualified professionals they can fully trust.
HE sector commitment
As a result of the recent UK Higher Education sector commitment to the UK AQF and the National Code of Ethical Practice, UK Universities will now only work with agents and counsellors who are certified, positioning the Hub as an essential resource. This has broadened the availability of quality advice for international students considering the UK as a study destination and increased usage.
Demonstrating credentials and commitment
To make it easier for agents and counsellors to showcase their credentials, digital badges will shortly be introduced, complementing the certificates. Easily shared across the web and social media, it is anticipated this will boost the Hub's usage, as professionals can more easily highlight their certified status and commitment to providing trusted advice on studying in the UK.
Celebrating successful collaboration
Wendy Edie, Managing Director at eCom, expressed her delight: “Being shortlisted for the PIEoneer of the Year award is a fantastic recognition underscores the success of our collaboration with the British Council and our commitment to delivering innovative solutions that significantly impact the education sector.”
Jacqui Jenkins, Global Programme Lead-International Student Mobility at the British Council, commented, "It’s great to be working with eCom, as they truly understand our important mission to ensure transparent and ethical practices in the international student recruitment ecosystem. In deploying eNetEnterprise to power the Hub, eCom have made it possible to expedite the certification of agents and counsellors, ensuring students have access to agents who possess the required knowledge and awareness to help them make informed choices about their UK education journey.”
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