Agency Problem in the unregulated Private Higher Education

This paper interprets the Agency problem prevailing in the unregulated private higher education institutions in the perspective of international student recruitment and transnational education. A purposive judgmental sample of multiple cases selected from 120 initial sample of local agents, through open ended semi-structured interviews. Social Cognitive theory, Theory of Planned Behavior along with the Agency theory triangulated to derive at a holistic interpretation. Findings revealed that Agency problem can be broadly interpreted in the context of international student recruitment and transnational education as an act of intentional misrepresentation, intentional misinformation and intentional misconduct beyond the intentions of the principal university.