Every year, Kenyan families lose significant sums to agencies that were never licensed to place students abroad.
The pattern is consistent. A confident office in a good building. Promises of guaranteed admission. A deposit requested early. Then delays, then silence, then an office that has moved without a forwarding address.
This article explains exactly how to verify an agency, how to verify the university they are placing you into, and what the warning signs look like before money changes hands.
We are publishing this even though we are an agency ourselves — because the students who ask these questions are the students who end up in real universities.
The regulator you need to know: CUE
The Commission for University Education is the body that licenses student recruitment agencies in Kenya and maintains the official list of approved universities.
CUE’s licensing function exists to streamline local agencies recruiting students into foreign institutions, to regulate how foreign institutions advertise and recruit in Kenya, and to ensure Kenyans are admitted only to accredited and recognised foreign institutions awarding recognised qualifications.
In January 2026, CUE took public enforcement action.
The commission flagged a number of institutions operating illegally as universities in Kenya, and listed a further set of entities as unauthorised student recruitment agencies operating across the country. CUE stated plainly that any institution operating as a university or degree-awarding body that does not appear on its approved list is illegal.
A high concentration of the flagged entities were located in Eldoret, with others in Nairobi and Nyeri.
That last detail matters if you are reading this from Eldoret. The problem is not distant. It is local.
The four behaviours CUE identified
The commission described specific patterns among unlicensed operators. Learn them, because they are what to look for.
Placing students into unaccredited institutions where the resulting qualification is worthless. A degree from an institution not recognised in Kenya cannot be used for employment or further study here.
Aggressive and misleading marketing — bold, unverifiable claims pushed heavily through social media to attract volume.
Lack of transparency — operating from temporary offices, concealing licensing details, and disappearing after receiving payment.
CUE warned students and parents directly that dealing with unrecognised agencies exposes learners to fraud.
How to verify an agency in four steps
Step 1 — Ask for the licence, in writing. A licensed agency will produce its CUE registration without hesitation. Ask for the registration document and the name it is registered under. Note that the registered company name is sometimes different from the trading name on the signage.
Step 2 — Check the CUE list yourself. Do not accept a screenshot. Go to cue.or.ke and find the current list of authorised student recruitment agencies. Search for the exact registered name. If it is not there, stop.
Step 3 — Verify the university separately. This is the step almost everyone skips. An agency being licensed does not mean the university they are recommending is accredited. Check the institution against the accreditation body in its own country — for example, the UK’s Office for Students, Canada’s designated learning institution list, or Australia’s TEQSA register. A real university will appear on its own national register.
Step 4 — Verify the physical and digital footprint. Does the agency have a permanent office you can visit twice? A website that has existed for more than a few months? A Google Business Profile with reviews from real people? Named staff you can look up? Temporary presence is the single most reliable warning sign.
Warning signs that should stop a conversation
“Admission is guaranteed.” No agency can guarantee admission. Universities make admission decisions. An agency that guarantees an outcome it does not control is either misinformed or dishonest.
“Visa approval is guaranteed.” Even less possible. Visa decisions belong to foreign governments. Australia refuses roughly one in five Kenyan student visa applications. Nobody can guarantee their way past that.
“Pay the full amount today, the offer closes tonight.” Manufactured urgency exists to prevent verification. Any agency comfortable with you checking their credentials will be comfortable with you taking two days to do it.
“Travel on a tourist visa, we will change your status when you arrive.” This one is dangerous enough that the Kenyan government has addressed it directly. Kenya’s Principal Secretary for Labour and Skills Development has warned explicitly that some agencies were sending Kenyans abroad on tourist visas with promises of converting to a work visa on arrival — and stated plainly that this does not work. If you travel as a tourist, you remain a tourist.
Payment to a personal account. A registered business receives money through a business account. A request to send funds to an individual’s M-Pesa or personal account removes your paper trail and your recourse.
No written agreement. Every legitimate placement involves a written contract specifying the service, the fee, the refund terms, and what happens if the visa is refused. If there is nothing to sign, there is nothing to enforce.
Questions to ask in the first meeting
Bring these. Write down the answers.
- What is your CUE registration number, and what name are you registered under?
- Which specific universities are you partnered with, and can I see the partnership documentation?
- What is your total fee, and what exactly does it cover?
- What happens to my money if the visa is refused?
- Can I speak to two students you placed in the last twelve months?
- Who specifically will handle my application, and how do I contact them directly?
If you would rather have this checked for you, Brecy Education Services’ university selection service only shortlists accredited institutions in the first place.
An agency that answers all six comfortably is an agency worth working with. An agency that becomes defensive at question one has told you what you needed to know.
If you have already paid someone
Act quickly rather than waiting to see if things improve.
- Gather every document: receipts, M-Pesa messages, WhatsApp threads, contracts, and the names of everyone you dealt with
- Report to CUE directly if the agency claimed to place students into universities
- File a report with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations
- Contact your bank or mobile money provider immediately, as some transactions can be flagged
- Share what happened publicly. CUE has advised students to verify recruiters through official government channels before making payments or sharing personal documents — and public reporting is part of how other families learn to do that.
