Western Union has announced a partnership with ChinaPay, the online and mobile payments subsidiary of China’s UnionPay, allowing universities and higher education institutions around the world to accept international tuition and student fees in the Chinese Renminbi.
Western Union Business Solutions and ChinaPay will offer an integrated, co-branded platform that will allow universities to give incoming Chinese students and their parents the ability to make foreign tuition payments in their home country and currency.
The service combines ChinaPay’s online and mobile payment portals with Western Union Business Solutions’ integrated foreign exchange and payment platforms to enable fast and reliable fund reconciliation and will allow payers to have funds deducted from their bank accounts in real time.
“We are excited to be launching this collaboration with Western Union Business Solutions,” said Cathy Wang, Vice General Manager of ChinaPay. “International education is increasingly important for many in China.
Western Union’s work to improve the speed and efficiency of cross-border payments for hundreds of
universities and higher education institutions around the world make them an ideal partner that will give students and their families a reliable, convenient payment solution.”
Students from China comprised 20 percent of the international student body in Australia in 2010-11, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The number of Chinese students studying in Australia in 2010-11 increased by 6 percent from the period 2009-2010, and China continues to provide more international students to Australia than any other country. ■
