As a world leading platform for international student recruitment, it’s important for ApplyBoard to have a transparent process for vetting International Education Advisors (advisors) when they apply to join our network. As a result of that process, around 24% of businesses that attempt to register with ApplyBoard don’t gain active access to our platform.

However, due diligence and accountability don’t stop after the initial vetting process. After unlocking full platform access, the advisor transitions from simply browsing to actively building their business. At this point, continuous performance monitoring officially begins to ensure our partners remain compliant with ApplyBoard’s quality standards. That ongoing performance monitoring is what we’re looking at today. 

What We’re Covering

• ApplyBoard provides reliable, direct support to advisors in over 110 countries with our team of over 200 account managers
• We monitor advisor performance using the ApplyBoard Elevate program, rewarding positive student outcomes
• Our team actively screens for risk, enforcing strict business conduct standards with non-compliance consequences that range from tailored improvement plans to permanent blocklisting

Strengthening the Sector

As part of our Strengthening the Sector series, we’re exploring the many ways that ApplyBoard pushes the international education sector forward. 

In this entry, we’ll look at how ApplyBoard conducts performance monitoring, including how we enable our trusted advisors to set their students up for success—and, in rare cases, how we take action when contractual obligations aren’t met.

Read the other articles in this series as they’re published:

• International Education Advisor Vetting
• Sector Training (Update pending)
• Application Pre-Screening
• Document Authentication (Update pending)

Measuring Advisor Performance

ApplyBoard’s commitment to providing the best experience extends beyond the initial approval process. Once an advisor gains full access, our automated systems begin tracking their specific actions across the ApplyBoard platform.

Continuous Quality and Performance Monitoring

While ApplyBoard Elevate rewards advisors’ positive business performance over a rolling 12-month period, our due diligence extends far beyond this, with risk and compliance being handled separately. Our team has developed a comprehensive compliance framework, which guides how we monitor our advisor network. Thorough performance monitoring helps to  ensure business conduct standards are consistently being met.

Our ongoing oversight processes identify potential risks early by:

• Conducting periodic reviews of business registrations and account information
• Continuously assessing application quality, document integrity, student outcomes, trends, and other metrics.
• Reviewing advisor performance and adherence to our best practices
• Investigating complaints, suspicious activity, or reported misconduct

Proactive Risk Screening and Verification

Our teams regularly review business entities and authorized representatives to protect our partner institutions.

We proactively screen for risk by:

• Auditing businesses against international sanctions and watchlists
• Checking Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) databases on an ongoing basis
• Reviewing regulatory enforcement records and industry indicators

Personalized Support

ApplyBoard has a global network of over 200 account managers who provide dedicated support to education advisors around the world. This personalized support helps our partners succeed.

Account managers keep their advisors up-to-date about the latest partner institutions and open programs on the ApplyBoard platform. They also share unique training opportunities, sector updates and trends, and are readily available to answer questions.

• Supplying advisors with the latest international education news and trends
• Passing along unique sector training opportunities
• Being readily available to answer questions and directly assist partners

Compliance Enforcement Framework

All advisors must abide by a contract which is aligned with global ethical standards, as well as ApplyBoard’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. These measures ensure accountability to protect the reputation and wellbeing of future international students and ApplyBoard’s partner institutions. 

To address policy violations or document irregularities, ApplyBoard uses a transparent, risk-based compliance and enforcement framework. Depending on the nature and impact of an issue, our enforcement actions prioritize education first, and may include:

• Providing educational guidance and corrective action requirements
• Issuing formal warnings
• Placing accounts under enhanced monitoring
• Implementing temporary restrictions or platform suspensions
• Enforcing permanent account termination and blocklisting 

If an education advisor’s contract is terminated with ApplyBoard on compliance grounds, they’re placed on a blocklist. Those individuals or organizations may be permanently prevented from working with ApplyBoard or its partner institutions on our platform.

This approach ensures that only qualified, credible, and ethical advisors continue to work with ApplyBoard, further reinforcing our commitment to maintaining trust and operational excellence in the international education sector.

Sector Training

Any strong relationship takes work to sustain. One of the principles that has allowed us to build lasting partnerships with our advisors is a commitment to continuous improvement. 

That’s why the next article in our Strengthening the Sector series will dive into sector training. We’ll detail how we incentivize our advisors to not just stay informed on international education trends and destination country policies, but also how to guide their students through the entire application process. 

Don’t miss out—stay involved in the conversation by subscribing to ApplyInsights.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. All data courtesy of ApplyBoard unless otherwise stated.