1999: UKEC Founded
• UKEC was founded by overseas graduates who saw that international students are rarely given comprehensive and objective advice at more personal level on their applications to study in UK universities. Since then we have helped place thousands of students into British Universities and other institutions.

2000: Industry Standard
• UKEC pioneers initiatives that quickly become the industry-standard as other agents attempt to emulate and replicate our service model.
• UKEC is the first UK-based agent to offer bursaries to all of our enrolling students and thereby effectively making our service free.

2001: International Education
• Prime Minister Tony Blair challenges UK universities to enrol more students from around the world to receive a quality British education. UKEC is ideally positioned to help realise internationalisation.
• We find that the number of international students seeking our education advice services is growing rapidly because ex-UKEC students are recommending our high-quality service.

2002: English Support
• UKEC established an English support service for our students.
• This service quickly proves so popular that in 2003 this add-on service developed into an independent business: Excel College.
• By 2011, Excel College is accredited by the British Council and ISI Inspectorate. Excel College is also a UKBA Highly Trusted Sponsor and a member of English UK.

2003: New UK Centres
• Growing demand from students around the UK means that we need to open new centres to keep students happy: experienced counsellors are sent from Head Office to open centres in London and Edinburgh.
• This establishes the UKEC model: friendly permanent staff based across the UK in local accessible centres.

2004: UKEC China
• Recognising that the biggest numbers of international students are from the PRC, UKEC opens sites in China: our first centre is in Chengdu and is followed by an office in prestigious Sichuan University.
• Over the next few years we open centres throughout China (Beijing, Xi’an, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing, Changsha, Harbin), often in association with renowned local universities (i.e. Sichuan, Chang’an, Chongqing, Wuhan).


2005: Experience
• As markets mature, international recruitment slows down for a couple of years. This reflects the rise of in-country pathway programmes, competition from other countries, and the growing awareness among students of the gap between a university ‘sales-pitch’ and reality.
• It is important to use our insight into the pros & cons of universities to ensure students could receive objective education advice.

2006: Old Friends & New Friends
• Regrettably, some of our long-serving education advisors are offered new jobs; happily, these new jobs are at our partner universities and thus further strengthening our ties with our partner universities.
• During their studies, ex-students approach us for part-time work at UKEC. We are proud to say that some of our current education counsellors began their relationship with UKEC as our students!
• In recognition of our position within the sector, some university careers offices invite us give presentations on-campus to their students.

2007: Bad Agents vs. Good Agents
• A series of scandals involving bad agents making fake documents for international students raise concerns amongst UK universities.
• The British Council organises workshops for UK universities to address this problem. During these sessions, British Council experts rely on market research and commentary provided by UKEC.
• Our UK coverage expands when we ask one of our most experienced advisors to open UKEC Birmingham.

2008: Popular Demand
• By listening to student feedback we realise that it is necessary to grow our network of UK offices by adding UKEC Preston to our line-up.

2009: Influence
• David, one of the founders of our company, is invited to a gala in London to accept the Big Ben Award for “The Best UK Enterprise for Supporting the Development of Overseas Youth”.
• UKEC hosts a mini-symposium on visa and sponsorship changes as well as the media focus on illegal immigration; the event is aimed at enhancing mutual understanding between the sectors present.

2010: Political Changes
• Prime Minister Cameron wants to reduce the number of international students coming to the UK so only serious students are given visas.
• UKEC’s long history of only working with legitimate students means that we are able to continue to secure offers for international students.
• Lina, one of the founders of our company, is honoured with an award for international entrepreneurship at an event in London.

2011: Recognition
• In recognition of UKEC’s stature as an established and trusted company, our UK Manager is asked to make presentations to university faculties representing legitimate education advisors working in the UK and China.
• Based on feedback from marketing representatives, we decide to open UKEC Newcastle.

2012: Global Expansion
• We incorporated UKEC International division as part of our plan to expand globally. UKEC brought on board a group of international consultants who are proficient in a wide range of international languages and regional knowledge to promote UKEC services globally.

2013: UK Expansion
• In recognition of UKEC's strong growth, the parent company, Xinlung Group Ltd was awarded the Excellent SME award in the UK.
https://excellent-sme-uk.safesigned.com/xinlung-group-limited
• In August 2013, UKEC introduced the opening of their 8th branch office in the UK in Cardiff, offering our free professional educational counselling services to students in Wales and South West England.

2014: Comprehensive Services to International Students
- UKEC enhances its services to further support students throughout their enrolment studying in the UK with the incorporation of student accommodation, language skills training and career skills development services. We also continue to expand to assist students from a range of different cultural backgrounds.


2015: New Year, New Start
- After over 16 years, UKEC HQ relocate to to a new address to the prominent business premise and student hub at St James Building, 89 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 6FQ. To celebrate the move, we invite our key UK partners to join us for the grand opening ceremony. The continual improvement of our facilities demonstrates our commitment to delivering a high standard, valuable service to both our partners and students.

2016: Global Expansion
- UKEC land on Malaysia to offer its comprehensive free services to the benefits of all Malaysian students, with continuous support for students after their arrival in the UK.

Services Description

UKEC offers education advisory and application support services to international students. We are a professional UK based education agent which has been operating since 1999. Our service aims to maximise you changes of enrolling at the best British Universities and Colleges by giving you the most up to date advice and guidance on the courses on offer. We will also take away the administrative burden by managing your application from submission to offer and onto successful enrolment. All of our UK staff have graduated from British Universities with postgraduate degrees and their extensive training and abundant personal experience will help students in the decision making process.

Our education service is aimed at making your life easier in two ways:

1) By taking over the administrative burden of applications

2) By maximising your chances of enrolling at the British university of your choice



Application Management


Application management is extremely important but also time-consuming and boring. By taking responsibility for all the administrative duties associated with undergraduate and postgraduate applications, UKEC allows our students to focus on their current work or study.

UKEC allows international students the peace of mind that comes with knowing their applications are accurate, timely and complete.

UKEC compiles all the necessary documents, checking that they are appropriate and making sufficient copies.

We fill in each university or college application form accurately and comprehensively to ensure that each application contains all the necessary paperwork.

Our staff perform routine checks on each application to make sure there is sufficient and accurate information for a university to make a decision.

UKEC submits your applications to our contacts at the agreed UK universities for them to review and make a decision.

We monitor and track the progress of your applications over time to make sure that they are being properly processed.


We Can Get You Offers

Our team of trained professional advisers are available to give you the help and guidance you need. The accuracy of our education counselling means that the vast majority of all our applications receive offers. Offers can be unconditional or conditional. UKEC can offer help and advice about how to turn a conditional offer into an unconditional offer.

UKEC receives the latest updates on courses, entry requirements and availability of places and other important information for students first hand from the universities.

If you are struggling to meet the language requirement, our partner Excel College, a language school based in Central Manchester is here to help. Excel College is a member of English UK and is accredited by the British Council and ISI Inspectorate (Education Oversight). At Excel College, we offer e-learning materials, online tutorials, one-to-one English or IELTS lesson, evening classes on top of standard classes to meet your needs at affordable price.

UKEC is regularly informed of scholarship opportunities at UK universities that can help you choose your final destination.

By law, all visa advisers must be OISC accredited. UKEC works in partnership with a level 3 OISC accredited visa service provider named Astor Visas to help our students with visa applications.

At the end of the UKEC application process you will have a number of offers from a range of UK universities. The final decision must be yours.