Your obligations

Recruitment agreements

All agents must have a current, signed QUT recruitment services agreement in order to promote our courses and refer students to study with us. We will not accept student applications from you if you don’t have an agreement, or if your agreement has expired.

We make a recruitment services agreement between QUT and the name of the agency. All student applications and invoices for this commission must bear the same name of the agency as entered in the agreement. If your agency changes its name, you must provide evidence of the change before a new agreement or variation can be made, and before we will pay any claims for commission.

Your agreement contains important regulations regarding recruitment and promotional activities, including legislation, commission rates and terms and payment, and other issues about representing QUT to international students.

As a QUT representative, you must thoroughly understand and abide by the terms and conditions of your agreement. If you have any queries, contact qut.agentsupport@qut.edu.au

The law and recruitment

Universities and their representatives must comply with Australian and State Government laws relating to international student recruitment.

You must be familiar with:

• Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act 2000
• revised National Code of Practice
• Information Privacy Act (prohibits collecting personal information that is not necessary for student recruitment)
• Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (protects students’ rights as consumers)
• Spam Act 2013. Under this act it is illegal to send, or cause to be sent, unsolicited commercial electronic messages that have an Australian link. A message has an 'Australian link' if it either originates or was commissioned in Australia, or originates overseas but has been sent to an address accessed in Australia. The Spam Act covers electronic messages of a commercial nature (emails, mobile phone text messages, multimedia messaging, and instant messaging)
• Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) - Bribery Offence. Representatives need to be aware of laws aimed at the prevention of bribery and their need to comply with such laws.

Genuine student requirement

We are required to ensure that students enrolled in our courses are genuine students, and that they are able to support themselves and any dependents during their studies. This helps us to maintain a high quality of applications, and enhances the reputation of our university and your agency.

We need your support to assess whether an applicant is genuine, and if they can financially support their study.

With the introduction of the SSVF in 2016, we continue to monitor our admission applications and student transfer trends. Under this framework, we may introduce new measures to assure our sound immigration risk rating position in collaboration with our agent partners.

Based on recent trends, we are implementing some changes for recruitment and admissions for certain countries (PDF file, 231.1 KB).

I work with students from one of these countries

If you’re assisting applicants with citizenship in one of these countries, and that applicant is based outside Australia, you must complete an agent checklist (AC form) (PDF file, 207.9 KB). It must be attached to the application.

Applicants will need to submit a detailed statement of purpose (PDF file, 222.3 KB) to clarify or explain how risk is mitigated.

Agents in Australia will not be able to assist applicants from these countries if they are not currently in Australia.

We do not offer TAFE pathways to applicants from these countries.

Inform us immediately if your applicant’s visa is refused at any stage.

ESOS and compliance

When you’re working with students who are applying to QUT, we advise that you:

• determine that the applicant is a genuine student who intends to obtain a successful education outcome in Australia
• inform applicants of the expected costs of study and living in Australia
• ensure that applicants have sufficient financial capacity to fund their study and living costs for the duration of their proposed study, and that they will meet these financial commitments in a timely manner as required
• inform applicants that they will be required to make a declaration regarding their financial capacity at the time they wish to accept an offer of study from QUT
• inform applicants that as a student of QUT they must meet their financial obligations to be able to continue their studies.

We appreciate your efforts to determine genuine applicants who have the capacity to financially support their study. We trust that you will be able to:

• make a sound judgement regarding an applicant’s intentions, legitimacy and financial capacity
• provide appropriate advice to each applicant
• refer on only those applications that you believe have a good chance of success.

Changing agents

Prospective students can change their agent. For example, a student might change country partway through the application process, or they may have received poor service from their first agent.

QUT agents can take over a student’s representation from another QUT agent, as long as:

• the new agent completes the CA form (PDF file, 379.2 KB) with declaration of GTE checks and documents verification for signing, then sends it to qut.agentsupport@qut.edu.au
• the student signs the CA form (PDF file, 379.2 KB) and submits a statement indicating why they want to change agents.

We have the right to approve or deny this agent transfer. We will advise both agents if the request is approved. In most cases, both agents will each usually receive 50% of the total commission that may have been claimed for the student.