Prof. Dr. Hugo Horta

Education agents have become central yet largely unregulated intermediaries in the increasingly marketized internationalization of higher education, particularly in China, one of the largest source markets of internationally mobile students. Drawing on interviews with nineteen agents working in Shanghai and Suzhou, and using agency theory as an analytical lens, this study examines how agents operate within two distinct admissions pathways: direct admission to universities overseas and dual admission, which combines university placement with enrolment in preparatory language centers. The findings reveal diverging principal and agent configurations. In direct admissions, students and their families are the sole principals, whereas dual admissions introduce a second principal in the form of commission-paying host universities eager to meet recruitment targets. Agents act as counsellors for academically strong applicants, yet also engage in practices situated in what they themselves describe as grey areas of the business, including admissions guarantees, ghostwriting and lower standards in dual admissions schemes. The study shows how these practices, combined with information asymmetry and weak accountability, privilege wealthy families and thereby transform international student mobility into a mechanism of socioeconomic reproduction. It concludes by discussing who should regulate agents and how, arguing for coordinated frameworks involving governments, universities and the agents themselves.

Hugo Horta is a Professor at the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. His career spans international academia and policymaking, with research experience in universities in North America, Europe and Asia. His research focuses on understanding how institutional setups, individual experiences, achievements and choices in the educational and professional trajectories of PhDs influence research work, collaborations and productivity. Central to his research are the roles of mobility and immobility (academic inbreeding), and the factors influencing the strategic research agendas of academics. Prof. Horta serves as Editor-in-Chief of Higher Education (Springer), a leading journal in the field where he has been on the editorial board since 2012. He is also involved in the leadership and governance of international academic associations, including CHER, HERA, and CHERA. Throughout his career, he has published several works, including 106 peer-reviewed articles—most in top-tier journals in higher education and science policy—as well as 1 book, 27 book chapters, 11 special issues, and 4 edited books. Beyond publishing, he is an active reviewer for leading international journals in higher education and other fields, such as Nature, and serves as an evaluator for prestigious funding agencies such as the NSF, RGC, and ESF.