Major Changes to Education Agent Rules Under the ESOS Act — What Providers Need to Know

Australia’s international education integrity reforms have introduced significant new rules around education agents, commissions, and provider obligations. These changes tighten oversight, close long-standing loopholes, and increase transparency across the sector. 

The ESOS Act now defines an education agent based on activities, not contracts.

This means any entity, individual, or business performing recruitment, counseling, advice, marketing, PRISMS work, fee collection, or “otherwise dealing with overseas students” on behalf of a provider is considered an education agent, even if:

• There is no written agreement
• They are a contractor or casual staff member
• They operate outside Australia
• Permanent employees are the only exclusion.

Impact: Providers must report and list all such agents on their website and in PRISMS.

Mandatory Transparency of Education Agent Commissions

The Department can now request detailed data on all monetary and non-monetary commissions, including:

• Total dollars paid
• Value of gifts, incentives, bonuses
• Number of students recruited
  

This includes indirect or third-party payments, which is closing the loophole in common practices. 

What are the non-compliance risks for providers: infringement notices, penalties, and regulatory action.

It was reported that the PRISMS will soon display cross-provider agent performance. Providers should gain access to sector-wide data such as:

• Transfer patterns
• Agent performance across providers
• Commission information
  

This should help identify high-risk agents and guide provider decisions.

The expanded agent definition strengthens regulators’ ability to investigate cross-ownership between providers and agents, reducing conflicts of interest and improving integrity. 

• More agents (and other entities) will now fall under mandatory reporting.
• Commission arrangements must withstand regulatory scrutiny
• Transparency between providers and agents will increase significantly
• Agent governance will shift from relationship-based to data-driven
• Non-compliance becomes riskier than ever

The sector is moving towards evidence-based agent management, with higher expectations of monitoring, reporting, and documentation.

#ESOSAct #MD115 #AgentCompliance #CrossOwnership #InternationalEducation #EducationIntegrity #CRICOS #ProviderObligations #ComplianceManagement #Educli #EdTechInnovation #AgentManagement