The British Council Sri Lanka recently hosted an interactive and informative seminar for UK education agents and school counsellors in Colombo recently. The event was attended by a large gathering of UK education agents and school counsellors, receiving an opportunity to engage with visiting senior UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) expert Neetu Prakash - Customer Account Manager, Visits, South and Southeast Asia, UKVI. Education agents and counsellors play a vital role in marketing UK education and supporting international students to achieve their goal of studying in the UK.

This ensures students have an outstanding international student experience during their time in the UK. The British Council works with education agents and counsellors to ensure and improve the quality of the education experience. In collaboration with its sector partners such as British Universities' International Liaison Association (BUILA), UK Universities, UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA), Association of Colleges, Council of British International Schools (COBIS) and English UK, the British Council has created a suite of resources designed specifically for education agents and counsellors. The British Council has also launched a free agent and counsellor training and engagement hub with the aim of helping global education advisers better understand the UK as an international study destination.

The hub is a comprehensive tool that provides numerous resources to support agents to become a certified agent or counsellor. All agent and counsellors who have successfully passed the assessments and agreed to the Code of Conduct are entered into a database of UK certified agents and counsellors. British Council Sri Lanka’s Education Programmes Manager Hamzi Haniff encouraged agents and counsellors to make maximum use of this free service by completing their certification and also pointed out the many benefits of doing so promptly.

Neetu Prakash of UKVI took the audience through an interactive presentation where she discussed in detail key areas including latest visa statistics of Sri Lanka, and the newest changes introduced by the UK authorities. She stated, “According to global statistics from 2024, over 3.4 million visas were granted during the year ending June 2024, of which 62% or 2.1 million were visitor visas while over 500,000 Study and Work visas were also granted. In 2023, Sri Lanka was granted 45,493 visas with 8,072 of them being visas granted to the ‘Study’ sector.”

“The aim of this gathering is to enhance the international student experience by ensuring prospective students coming to the UK are well-informed when making key decisions about their education. By supporting education agents, we ensure that students receive high-quality guidance and advice throughout their journey,” said Hamzi Haniff. The session included an insightful Q&A session where queries from UK education agents and school counsellors were answered in detail by Neetu Prakash of UKVI, helping agents and counsellors obtain clarifications and clear doubts regarding the student visa process.

As a key facilitator for UK study in the country, the British Council Sri Lanka has already mapped out future engagement initiatives for the study agents and school counsellors in Sri Lanka. This includes a conference during the first quarter of 2025.

For more information on UK education agents and school counsellors, visit: https://www. britishcouncil.org/education/ agents-counsellors