The international education sector is about to get a better idea of how much artificial intelligence is actually being used in the industry, rather than how much people say they are using it.
The Brief: International Education Edition has launched the State of AI in International Education 2026, describing it as a sector-wide census designed to measure AI adoption across agencies, education providers and other parts of the international education ecosystem.
The initiative comes as AI has become one of the most discussed topics across the sector, despite relatively little hard data about how organisations are actually using the technology, what they are spending on it and whether it is changing jobs and business processes.
The Brief says the industry currently lacks basic answers to questions such as whether an agency is genuinely automating parts of its business with AI or simply using ChatGPT occasionally, how much organisations are spending on AI tools and whether those investments are delivering value.
The census is designed to provide some of those answers.
It asks participants about their personal use of AI, the tools they use, what they pay for and what is preventing greater adoption.
A second section looks at what The Brief calls “connected AI”, examining whether AI systems are simply answering questions or are connected to other systems and able to take action.
The survey then moves beyond technology to look at business conditions, including volumes, revenue, commission timing, payment issues, hiring and what work AI may already have replaced.
A final section examines policy and destination markets, including where students are going and how government policy has affected businesses.
One of the more interesting features is an AI Adoption Score, which participants receive after completing the first section. The score places respondents into one of four categories: Pioneer, Practitioner, Explorer or Early.
Agencies will be compared with other agencies and universities with universities, rather than against a single industry-wide average.
The organisers say the census is anonymous and that results will only be published in aggregate, with a minimum number of respondents required before any finding is released.
Participants will receive the completed findings before they are published more broadly.
The census is being run by Qualy, publisher of The Brief, with international student payments company NexPay supporting the research. The Koala is helping spread the word.
The organisers are also inviting industry associations, networks and events to encourage their members to participate. Partner organisations will receive an anonymised comparison of their members with the wider industry once sufficient responses have been collected.
The survey is intended to take around 10 minutes and can be completed in sections rather than in one sitting.
For an industry that has spent the past couple of years talking extensively about AI, the more useful question may now be what is actually happening behind the talk.
The census could provide the first meaningful industry-wide snapshot of that gap.
Take part in the survey here.
