EDUCACIÓN Y SOCIEDAD COMPLEJA »

Migration brokers are often central to the decisions that prospective migrants make about their mobility. Migration brokers, especially in labour migration contexts, are frequently characterised as people with questionable morals who take advantage of potential migrants’ lack of knowledge and willingness to pay to leave their home country (Lindquist, 2012; Khan, forthcoming). What is potentially problematic across all forms of migration brokerage is that the power of brokers is relatively unchecked (Kern & Müller-Böker, 2015). In the international education industry, agents (and counsellors, though this distinction is not often made in the literature) are broadly understood to hold considerable power in determining where students enrol (Beech, 2018; Adhikari, 2010). However, relatively little is known about how prospective students make decisions about

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international education (Raghuram, 2013) which means that the ways in which they might be vulnerable during mobility processes are also relatively unknown.

Knowledge about educational qualifications is crucial if one is to convert foreign degrees into other forms of capital. As Bourdieu (1984: 142) argues, “one of the most valuable sorts of information constituting inherited cultural capital is practical or theoretical knowledge of … academic qualifications, the sense of investment which enables one to get the best return on inherited cultural capital in the scholastic market or on scholastic capital in the labour market.” Bourdieu goes on to argue that ‘newcomers’ to certain educational qualifications are more likely to ‘expect’ the acquisition of said qualifications to afford privilege that they observed “at a time when they themselves were excluded from it” (1984: 143). The knowledge that an individual accumulates about education and the choices, expectations and aspirations that they subsequently develop are thereby inflected by class status.

There were stark differences between the SoBo elites and suburban strivers when it came to having confidence to make decisions about international education and possessing adequate and sound information to make ‘good’ choices. As Chapter Six will demonstrate, SoBo elites accumulate knowledge about ‘abroad’ from childhood: they travel overseas for leisure from a young age, they have large networks of transnationally mobile friends, family and peers, and they attend international schools that promote ‘global citizenship’ (Gilbertson, 2017a; Sancho, 2015; Rizvi, 2017). For example, Nidhi, 20, a SoBo elite who was in the process of lodging college applications on her own, explained why she did not enlist the help of an agent or counsellor:

I just felt like I didn’t need help, you know. My dad has so many friends whose kids are already abroad, so I met them and asked for their opinions. … In school we had a lot of seminars about how to apply abroad, so I just felt like I already knew how to do it by myself.

The social capital that SoBo elites possess ensures that these students are fluent in the process of applying to foreign universities and have developed résumés that will allow them to apply successfully. The experiential knowledge that counsellors provide to SoBo elites therefore builds on prior knowledge that this group accumulates across their lifecourse.

Suburban strivers, on the other hand, do not typically grow-up with the presupposition that they will study overseas; this is a decision that participants reported occurring much later according to the family’s financial status, academic ability of the student, political climates, job and migration prospects. This decision also relates strongly to the individual’s and the family’s aspirations (see also Waters, 2005, 2006a; Azmat et al., 2013; Sancho, 2015; Rizvi, 2014; Gilbertson, 2016, 2017a). However, suburban strivers’ ‘world’ does not necessarily include training to become a ‘global citizen’, so they often lack knowledge and networks that SoBo elites have which facilitate relatively straightforward navigation through the international education industry. Consequently, suburban strivers are more vulnerable to the potential trappings of agents or counsellors, who may be driven by profit rather than the best possible outcome for the student (Adhikari, 2010). The agents and counsellors who participated in this study appeared to cater to the desires and capabilities of their clients, and so the data that follow illustrates the potential vulnerability of students who possess less capital than their more elite peers.

Lacking knowledge about international education and/or the confidence to make decisions about where and what to study was a common reason cited by suburban strivers for seeking the services of an agent or counsellor. Of the 15 suburban strivers in the prospective student sample, 12 had spoken to an agent (10) or a counsellor (2) – compared to the 11 SoBo elite in the sample, of whom only 5 had engaged an education counsellor and 6 had completed the process without assistance from an agent or counsellor. Many of the suburban striver participants reported closely following the guidance of their agent/counsellor because they trusted the advice they received. For instance, Bapu, 27, who was working full-time at a fast-food restaurant to save money towards his living expenses in the US, explained why he followed the advice of his agent:

He told me that this college is the best one for me. I can’t afford the expensive schools, so I needed one that had a good fee structure. But I also wanted to make sure that I study somewhere proper. … I needed a recommendation for a school that’s good but also affordable. … The agent is a good friend of my friend, so I trust him and I trust his opinion. He has no reason to cheat me, so I went with what he suggested. I have no clue about MBAs or any education overseas, so I have to trust what he says.

In a follow-up with Bapu once he had begun his MBA in a small American college, he reported that he was happy with the tuition he was receiving but disappointed by the lack

of student diversity – all his classmates were international students from South Asia. However, it is not difficult to imagine how this scenario could have had negative outcomes had the agent not acted with integrity, as is periodically reported in the media wherein unsuspecting students are given false information, robbed of their money or enrolled into bogus colleges (Tan, 2015; Acharya, 2017; Saini, 2008; see also Baas, 2007). Reliance on agents and counsellors potentially makes suburban striver students vulnerable, especially where agents are motivated by commission.

Reliance on agents or counsellors was not always as obvious as in Bapu’s case, however. For many other students, especially those who spoke to counsellors, the influence that industry professionals had on their decisions was subtler. Participants, particularly suburban strivers, often reported feeling overwhelmed by the volume of tertiary institutions that they could apply to. In 23-year-old suburban striver Rohit’s example, the counsellor’s process of selecting colleges provided parameters that helped him decide where to apply for his master’s degree in the USA:

I had no idea how to select my colleges. He gave me the list of 15-20 colleges depending on my score. He told me to review those colleges and to decide how I feel about these colleges, then shortlist seven or eight, and then come back. So then I searched on the internet regarding the quality of education, the subjects offered, how are the students, what are the students’ reviews, do we get internships or jobs if I join that college, what are the tuition fees, the rankings of the college. And then I applied to several colleges from that list.

Rohit’s experience was typical of how prospective students and counsellors interact: student approaches counsellor with their grades and educational desires, counsellor shortlists 10-20 colleges to which they believe the student could gain admission, student and their family then shortlist 5-10 that they then apply to. However, while Rohit reports playing the central role in determining which colleges he applied to and independently sought information about each college, his counsellor provided the original list of 15-20 colleges that governed Rohit’s subsequent decisions. The US alone has several thousand colleges that students can apply to, so the counsellor’s role in narrowing this to 15-20 institutions significantly influences a student’s decision. A consequence of this is that students who lack networks that can provide supplementary information about international education are more reliant on the advice and/or processes of education agents or counsellors, and are therefore also reliant on the integrity of these professionals.

SoBo elites possess more resources than suburban strivers by virtue of their accumulated social capital, making them less vulnerable when they interact with the international education industry.

While agents and counsellors who participated in the study appeared to operate with genuine concern for their clients, participants also reported dissatisfaction with advice they had received from other agents (interestingly, no participant reported being unhappy with a counsellor), and ultimately did their own research and application process. Swapnali, 21, a prospective suburban striver student who had recently completed her undergraduate degree at a local university, explained that the agent she visited was ‘intent’ on channelling her into certain decisions:

My parents … don’t know anything about universities abroad. All they know is that I should get really good education. … I saw an agent, but that was just very fruitless because the universities they suggested were really bad. … They were just intent on selling me their colleges and wouldn’t listen [to] any of my requests.

Swapnali’s experience highlights the potential for agents to influence students who are less confident or able to independently research international education options. Swapnali explained that she had spent many hours exploring websites of foreign universities, attended education fairs, contacted students at various universities through Facebook groups, and was also well-versed in global university rankings and visa policies. This research, while time-intensive, allowed her to discern the quality of advice she received from agents.

However, most participants in the study were not as thorough as Swapnali in their research. Instead, they tended to rely on guidance from people within their community (including agents and counsellors), citing that they did not trust information available on the internet. This places SoBo elites in a better position to obtain reliable information and advice about international education options because they have larger networks of mobile peers and contacts, whereas suburban strivers are more likely to rely on the information they receive from education agents and counsellors. The capital that prospective international students accumulate over the course of their lives, by virtue of their existing class status and inherited social, economic and (cosmopolitan) cultural capital, colours their interactions with the international education industry.

It was widely reported by SoBo elite students that, if desired, students can purchase ‘additional’ services from certain counsellors, who would then write their college applications for them. Not only do SoBo elite students have access to more reliable information about international education on the basis of their networks, their access to economic capital can also facilitate the purchase of additional advantages. Tushar, 22, a returned student from a SoBo elite family, who had attended an elite international (IB) school, explained that many of his classmates had employed the same well-known education counsellor, not because they necessarily needed help but because it was available to them:

A lot people use him really heavily. He writes their essays for them, tells them which course to apply for, when to apply, what to put on their CV to make it amazing for that university. … It’s not that they even need help, but it’s just Indian culture, like, ‘Oh, if I can pay someone to get into the university that I want, why not?’ It’s just an Indian thing.

Ethically, counsellors should not be writing college applications on behalf of students. When asked, counsellors stated that they ‘simply guided’ the students and would never actually write an application. However, several student respondents refuted this when they unknowingly named some counsellors who participated in the study as those who are known to write college essays for a fee. Tushar suggests that this is an ‘Indian thing’, however, I contend that purchasing advantage is a ‘class thing’ available to the SoBo elite who can afford upwards of US$4660 (Rs. 3 lakhs) in counselling fees. This reflects the ‘excesses’ and ‘immorality’ of the elite described by participants in Chapter Four, and also speaks to the notion that international education is matter of prestige and grooming for SoBo elite families. That SoBo elite students have the ability to purchase advantages from the international education industry reinforces class boundaries wherein suburban strivers are perpetually unable to ‘keep up’ (see also Gilbertson, 2017a).

Several suburban striver students, who were unable to afford the services of a counsellor, were acutely aware of the advantages that SoBo elite students are able to purchase. Urvashi, 24, a prospective student from a suburban striver family, explained that her student visa application had previously been rejected by the Canadian government because she was unable to demonstrate access to adequate funds. This was an issue that probably would have been overcome had she sought the advice of an agent or counsellor, as she insisted it was not a matter of having inadequate funds but rather

that she did not disclose the information properly. Despite this, Urvashi was extremely critical of ‘rich’ students who sought assistance from industry professionals to aid their decisions about international education:

People consult agents or consultants because they have no clue about what they are trying to do. Their sights are more on going abroad, on living the American lifestyle rather than actually focusing on what degree they’re doing … I mean, if you don’t know what to write about why you want to go to the university you want to get in to, then you’re an idiot! You shouldn’t be going anyways! … People who hire consultants are anyways already rich. They don’t care where the money is going so they can hire fifty people to create an absolutely impeccable application and not have the brains to stand up to it. The application and their personality could be, like, miles apart.

SoBo elites are able to purchase advantage by employing the services of education counsellors, which reiterates that localised micro-categories of class shape the experiences that prospective students have when they interact with Mumbai’s international education industry. Urvashi’s comment also highlights the fact that some students, particularly from suburban striver backgrounds, are not uncritical or unaware of the potentially problematic role that the international education industry plays at the pre- departure phase of student mobility. Her experience also implies that suburban strivers need to be more vigilant when they engage with the international education industry, as they lack the accumulated capital that would allow them to fluently negotiate visa and university applications. A similar unevenness was observed in relation to student loans, discussed below.