Client Advisory & Success-Linked Fee Agreement

Means written confirmation of admission, doctoral appointment, studentship or equivalent academic or research offer issued by a relevant university or research institution.

Means an Offer Letter that provides financial support such as a stipend, scholarship, studentship, assistantship, salary or comparable institutional funding for the Client’s doctoral or research engagement.

Means the recurring financial support stated in the applicable qualifying Offer Letter. Where a stipend is stated annually, the monthly equivalent may be calculated by dividing the annual amount by twelve.

“Success-Linked Advisory Fee” or “Success Fee” means the advisory fee payable following a qualifying funded Offer Letter and the subsequent applicable milestone, as described in Section 08.

Means formal issuance of the applicable student or research visa or immigration permission by the competent authority.

Means charges imposed by universities, application portals, examination providers, visa authorities, embassies or consulates, medical providers, translation or legalisation providers, courier providers, travel providers or other external entities.

• Detailed review of academic and research background
• Identification of strengths and relevant gaps
• Strategic guidance regarding PhD pathways
• Prioritisation of suitable opportunities
• Application positioning guidance

• Research into suitable universities and PhD programmes
• Review of programme requirements
• Assessment of academic and profile alignment
• Research into relevant departments and research environments

• Identification of relevant supervisors and researchers
• Review of publicly available research interests
• Assessment of potential research alignment
• Prioritisation of relevant outreach opportunities

• Academic CV structuring
• Profile presentation guidance
• Refinement of relevant academic and research experience
• Positioning of achievements, projects, publications and skills

• Statement of purpose guidance
• Opportunity-specific positioning
• Structural and content refinement
• Guidance concerning recommendation letters and supporting narratives

• Research-direction development support
• Proposal structure and positioning
• Alignment of proposed research with relevant opportunities
• Review and refinement of proposal content

• Supervisor identification
• Outreach strategy
• Targeted communication guidance
• Review and refinement of outreach communication
• Follow-up strategy where appropriate

• Application requirement review
• Document checklist
• Application-readiness review
• Submission guidance
• Deadline and process coordination support

• Interview strategy
• Academic and research discussion preparation
• Opportunity-specific preparation
• Mock interview guidance where appropriate

• General visa-process guidance following an applicable offer
• Visa interview preparation where relevant
• General pre-departure planning guidance

EduSail Abroad uses a merit-based commitment-fee framework. The current standard pricing framework is:

All fees are exclusive of Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is charged additionally at the prevailing statutory rate (currently 18%) and shown on every invoice.

The published standard pricing framework establishes EduSail Abroad’s normal commercial structure. It does not prevent EduSail Abroad from approving a client-specific commercial exception.

The actual commitment fee payable by the Client is the amount expressly recorded in Schedule A: Client-Specific Commercial Schedule.

EduSail Abroad may, at its discretion, approve a merit-based discount or another arrangement. Such approval must be recorded in Schedule A or a written addendum.

The commitment fee is the upfront professional fee associated with commencing the formal advisory engagement and allocating EduSail Abroad resources to the Client. It covers, as applicable:

• onboarding
• detailed profile evaluation
• personalised opportunity research
• university and programme research
• supervisor and researcher research
• application strategy
• engagement setup and advisory planning

The commitment fee is not a university fee, application fee, government fee, visa fee or scholarship fee.

All fees stated in this Agreement and in Schedule A are exclusive of GST. GST is charged additionally at the prevailing statutory rate (currently 18%), is stated separately on every invoice, and is remitted by EduSail Abroad in accordance with applicable law.

A qualifying funded Offer Letter generally means an institutional written offer that provides the Client with a funded doctoral or research opportunity and identifies financial support such as a stipend, scholarship, studentship, assistantship or equivalent funding. Where the nature of funding is unclear, the Parties may confirm in writing whether the offer qualifies for Success Fee purposes.

If the Client receives multiple qualifying funded offers, the Success Fee will ordinarily be calculated using the stipend associated with the funded offer accepted by the Client, unless Schedule A states otherwise.

Upon receipt of a qualifying funded Offer Letter, 30% of the Success Fee becomes payable within 14 calendar days, unless Schedule A expressly provides a different period.

The Client agrees to inform EduSail Abroad promptly upon receiving a qualifying offer and to provide a copy or sufficient evidence of the offer for calculation of the Success Fee. Failure to immediately provide the Offer Letter does not extinguish a payment obligation that has otherwise accrued.

Upon Visa Approval for the relevant funded opportunity, the remaining 70% of the Success Fee becomes payable within 14 calendar days, unless Schedule A expressly provides a different period. The Client shall inform EduSail Abroad promptly and provide reasonable evidence of Visa Approval.

If the qualifying funded Offer Letter is received but Visa Approval is never obtained, the 70% Visa milestone does not become payable solely because an Offer Letter was received. The 30% Offer Letter milestone remains payable once accrued.

If the Client voluntarily decides, after a qualifying Offer Letter or Visa Approval, to defer, cancel, withdraw from or otherwise not pursue the opportunity for personal reasons, an amount that has already become due under the applicable milestone remains payable.

A later decision by the Client not to enrol, travel, join the programme or continue with the opportunity does not retrospectively undo a Success Fee milestone that has already occurred. This does not prevent the Parties from agreeing to a different arrangement in writing.

The Success-Linked Advisory Fee is linked to the benefit of the advisory and application work performed during the engagement, and not merely to the date on which an Offer Letter is received.

Accordingly, if, within 12 months after termination or completion of this Agreement, the Client receives a qualifying funded Offer Letter from:

• a university, programme, department, supervisor or research group identified, researched, recommended or contacted by EduSail Abroad during the engagement; or
• an application or supervisor-outreach process materially prepared, supported or initiated by EduSail Abroad during the engagement,

the applicable Success-Linked Advisory Fee remains payable even if the Offer Letter is received after the Agreement has ended.

This provision does not apply to an entirely unrelated opportunity that was neither identified, researched, recommended, contacted nor materially supported by EduSail Abroad during the engagement.

The Client shall inform EduSail Abroad of any potentially qualifying offer promptly and in any event within 3 business days of receipt.

For Success Fee purposes, the applicable monthly stipend ordinarily means the gross recurring monthly cash stipend or salary-equivalent doctoral funding expressly stated in the qualifying Offer Letter, before personal income-tax or other deductions.

The following are ordinarily excluded from the stipend calculation unless Schedule A expressly states otherwise:

• tuition-fee waivers
• one-time relocation grants, joining or settling allowances
• reimbursement of expenses and travel allowances
• insurance benefits
• accommodation provided in kind
• research or equipment budgets
• other non-recurring or non-cash benefits

Where the Offer Letter states annual funding rather than monthly funding, the monthly amount is ordinarily calculated by dividing the stated recurring annual amount by twelve. Where funding is stated in a foreign currency, the INR equivalent is calculated as set out in Schedule A (A5).

Where an Offer Letter contains unclear, conditional or variable funding terms, EduSail Abroad may request reasonable clarification or supporting documentation before issuing the Success Fee calculation.

The commitment fee is consideration for onboarding, reserving professional capacity and commencing the agreed advisory work. It is non-refundable once paid. Nothing in this Agreement is intended to exclude a statutory right that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Either Party may request termination by written notice. Where a material breach occurs, the non-breaching Party may provide written notice and a reasonable opportunity to remedy the breach where remedy is possible.

Upon termination:

• accrued and undisputed fees remain payable;
• fees already earned or due under applicable milestones remain payable;
• the Success Fee provision in Section 8.6 survives;
• confidentiality obligations continue;
• intellectual-property restrictions continue; and
• reasonable handover of Client-owned materials may be provided.

Client withdrawal, inactivity, failure to respond or decision to pursue another consultant does not automatically cancel fees that have already accrued or become due.

The complaining Party sends a written notice describing the issue, relevant facts, documents and relief sought. A Client sends this notice to [email protected].

The Parties attempt to resolve the matter within 15 calendar days of receipt of the dispute notice.

If the dispute is not resolved through the above process, either Party may refer the dispute to arbitration in accordance with the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, as amended.

Formal notices concerning termination, payment default, disputes, amendments or other material contractual matters are sent to the email address recorded in this Agreement and, where appropriate, may also be communicated through the Client’s recorded WhatsApp or mobile contact. A notice sent electronically is treated as delivered in accordance with applicable law and the available evidence of transmission and receipt.

A material amendment, fee waiver, change in Success Fee or other contractual variation is effective only when recorded in writing and attributable to an authorised EduSail Abroad representative. Statements made casually by individual staff, consultants or third parties do not amend this Agreement unless the person making the statement has authority to approve the change.

This Agreement, its Client-Specific Commercial Schedule and any written addendum expressly incorporated into it constitute the understanding between the Parties concerning the engagement.

If any provision is found invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to the extent permitted by law.

If there is an inconsistency between documents relating to the same engagement, the following order applies unless the later document expressly states otherwise:

1. a signed or validly accepted written addendum;
2. the Client-Specific Commercial Schedule;
3. this Agreement;
4. general website or marketing material.

This ensures that an individually agreed arrangement is not accidentally overridden by general public pricing or promotional content.

These record the Client’s PhD Readiness Score, the standard commitment fee, any merit discount, concession or other approved adjustment, the agreed fee before GST, GST at 18%, the total commitment fee payable, the amount paid to date, any outstanding amount, and the payment dates and method.

A5.1 One rate, fixed once. Where the stipend is stated in a foreign currency, the INR equivalent is calculated using the reference rate for the Offer Letter date (or, if that is not a business day in India, the last preceding business day).

A5.2 Reference rate. The reference rate is the RBI/FBIL reference rate or, where none is published for that currency, the State Bank of India TT buying rate for that date. The rate, its source and date are recorded in the Funded Offer & Success Fee Confirmation issued under Section 8.3.

A5.3 Fixed rupee amounts. The rate recorded in the Confirmation applies to the whole Success Fee: the Offer Letter milestone, the Visa Approval milestone and every part or instalment of it. Later movements in the exchange rate do not change any amount, in either direction.

A5.4 Monthly equivalent. The monthly stipend is worked out as follows:

Where the Offer Letter states the number of months a stipend covers, this table replaces the twelve-month division in Sections 4.3 and 8.7. The exclusions in Section 8.7 (tuition waivers, one-time grants, allowances, benefits in kind) continue to apply.

A5.5 Rounding. All INR amounts are rounded to the nearest rupee. Where a milestone is paid in parts, the last part is the milestone amount less the parts already fixed, so that the total is exact.

A5.6 Paying from abroad. Every amount is invoiced and payable in INR to EduSail Abroad’s Indian bank account or payment link. The Client may pay from an Indian or a foreign account. Bank, remittance and currency-conversion charges are borne by the Client, and a payment is complete when the full invoiced rupee amount is credited to EduSail Abroad.