AIRC Membership Approves Standards, Launches Pilot Agency Certification

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AIRC Membership Approves Standards, Launches Pilot Agency Certification

Los Angeles, California, May 26, 2009 – The American International Recruitment Council, which plans to roll out a Certification process for international student recruitment agencies in early 2010, today announced that its membership had approved adoption of its Certification Standards and process. Founding Chair and President, Mitch Leventhal stated, “This is the first time that American postsecondary institutions, or their international recruitment partners, have had consistent and clear guidelines for ethical and best practice. We at AIRC are convinced that through the AIRC Certification process, American institutions will be able to make major headway in their global recruiting in the years to come.” AIRC Certification will be the most rigorous quality assurance approach to recruitment worldwide. AIRC membership has grown to sixty (60) institutions since its formation.

The AIRC has also announced that the Standards and Certification process will be piloted between June and December, 2009. Eight agencies have been selected to participate in the pilot, including Global Reach (India), EduGlobal (China), Mentor International (Thailand), Study Overseas UK (United Kingdom), World Education Group (United States), EDU Danmark (Denmark), IEC Online (Germany) and IDP (Australia). Following successful completion of the pilot, AIRC will open the process to all recruitment agencies in early 2010.

“Achieving AIRC Certification will differentiate agencies as having undergone a substantial external due diligence process, undertaken specific professional development activities relevant to the US higher education system, implemented a self-study process including establishment of continuous improvement plans, and withstood an external review and site visit,” says Marjorie Peace Lenn, President of the Center for Quality Assurance in International Education (CQAIE), which has assisted AIRC in the development of the Standards and administer the certification process.

The US higher education industry is not effectively competing for market share due to its avoidance of agency-based recruiting methods. An April 2009 report undertaken for the Australian Council for Private Education & Training indicates that international students contribute an average of US $21,810 per year in direct foreign exchange and value-added to the Australian economy, or a total of about US $10.3 billion. According to the same study, each international student  creates 0.29 domestic full-time workers in Australia, in support of the industry. According to Leventhal, “We believe that the contribution of international students to the US economy has been grossly underestimated. But beyond this, American higher education is the one sector which has capacity today to ramp up exports and foreign exchange earnings – something that no industry in the durable goods sector can claim in 2009. This is our time to get moving.”

For additional information, contact:  Dr. Mitch Leventhal, AIRC Chair & President, tel: +1 513 556 0324,  info@airc-education.org, www.airc-education.org

ABOUT THE AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT COUNCIL – Founded in late June 2008, the AIRC is a Standards Development Organization (SDO) officially registered with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. Its mission is to develop standards of ethical practice pertaining to international student recruitment to American educational institutions and to establish a certification framework for international student recruitment agencies.

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