Amid Canada’s growing popularity as a top destination for international students, the role of recruiters has come under scrutiny. Stories have surfaced of agents abroad who seek to take advantage of students and their families. Individuals make false promises about life in Canada, misrepresent Canadian institutions, or even falsify documents. These bad actors have a detrimental impact on the reputation of Canada’s higher education system and of Canada itself.
Nearly all Canadian public and private institutions rely on international partners to recruit promising students from abroad. Canada is competing in a global talent competition, and its treatment of hopeful student visa applicants must always be above reproach. In the current regulatory environment of tighter immigration controls, no stakeholder can tolerate bad actors representing Canada’s higher education. These unscrupulous endeavours victimize students, and it’s up to Canada’s institutions to protect them from falling prey to svengali tactics.
Quality Shield: A Proprietary Recruitment Partnership Compliance Program
In 2022, Global University Systems took a proactive approach to this issue by developing Quality Shield, a proprietary, state-of-the-art onboarding and compliance framework for its education agency partners. Modelled on the due diligence processes used by top financial institutions, Quality Shield sets the standard for systematic agent accountability in higher education, surpassing any regulatory requirement in any country.
Quality Shield is administered by our industry-leading 10-member compliance team, which includes specialists in due diligence, social media monitoring and compliance — all supported by automated monitoring systems and algorithms. To be a verified recruitment partner with any GUS Canada institution, applicants must undergo a rigorous vetting process and maintain good standing throughout the working relationship.
“The GUS Quality Shield is our promise to prioritize the best interests of our students throughout their journey, ensuring that our recruitment partners are equally committed to delivering positive results.” Says Amanda Dishaw, Director, Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management.
Our Students & Our Programs Report
How Quality Shield Protects International Students from Bad Actors Representing Canada’s Higher Education
In creating Quality Shield, Global University Systems sought to build a framework with students as its focal point. As a result, while Quality Shield governs agents’ relationships with GUS and its institutions, every component of the framework is designed to protect student interests first and weed out the bad actors.
Due Diligence
We apply a multi-layered system of criminal record checks, business record verifications, and reference checks for all partner applicants. We continue to expand the provisions of our due diligence, which now include a review of business ownership structures.
Code of Conduct
Before onboarding, recruitment partners must agree to a detailed set of written standards for ethical business and interpersonal practice, ensuring prospective students can trust their representatives.
Continuous Screening
Agency background checks continue even after the onboarding process is complete. We actively monitor marketing materials and social media posts. We also monitor the quality of recruits to ensure that student applicants are poised to succeed in their studies and in their future careers in Canada’s labour market.
Compliance
Investigations are triggered for any breach of the Code of Conduct, with enforcement via suspension or termination of the business relationship. For any investigation resulting from a student complaint, students receive updates on the investigation’s findings and outcomes.
Quality Shield: Building Student Trust
Quality Shield is administered via the GUS Gateway, the framework’s purpose-built online portal. GUS Gateway’s capabilities include automatically generating co-branded materials for recruitment partners. It provides them with pre-approved descriptions, images, and application requirements of the institutions they work with. This feature ensures that GUS institutions are accurately and honestly represented everywhere in the world. Most importantly, this feature protects students against false promises or inflated claims by bad actors.
Quality Shield also sets itself apart by monitoring partners’ social media and website postings on an ongoing basis. This additional layer ensures compliance with industry standards, regulatory obligations, and, most importantly, GUS institutions’ values and expectations in real-time.
Quality Shield Makes Canada a Standard-Setter in Global Education
The GUS Quality Shield is not just a one-time verification process because it is a continuous commitment to excellence. It is also the only accreditation framework recognized by the international education association ICEF, which makes Quality Shield a made-in-Canada solution to a global-scale problem. GUS and ICEF continue to collaborate on further industry-defensive measures. These plans include a Global Reporting Board to identify bad actors and alert institutions worldwide.
GUS Quality Shield is poised to shape the future of recruitment partner verification. GUS Quality Shield ensures that GUS Canada institutions work exclusively with partners of the highest calibre. Therefore, GUS Quality Shield promises our students that they can confidently see Canada as a study destination. By extension, GUS Quality Shield also upholds the integrity of Canada’s immigration policies. It reinforces Canada’s reputation as a top destination for international students. It ensures that Canada attracts high-calibre students who can contribute to Canada’s economy and society now and in the future.