About 4,000 Educational Institutions Outside Mainland China Accept UnionPay Cards for Tuition Payment

SHANGHAI, July 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- According to data from China's Ministry of Education, the number of Chinese students studying abroad exceeded 600,000 for the first time in 2017, reaching 608,400, and China continues to be the world's largest source of international students. UnionPay International has continued to upgrade its education payment service system, providing students with multiple payment services including online and offline tuition payment, daily cash withdrawal and payment service, and local card application. At present, about 4,000 educational institutions outside mainland China accept UnionPay cards for tuition fees payment. The amount of tuition fees paid by UnionPay cards in the first five months of this year has grown by 2.5 times year-on-year.

Cai Jianbo, CEO of UnionPay International, said that with the continuous improvement of UnionPay's online and offline acceptance outside mainland China, the UnionPay payment service system for overseas study has acquired new features. First, its service scope is wider, not only covering major destinations for overseas study but also providing services for students who study in the "Belt and Road" countries and regions. Second, with the continuous optimization of the acceptance of UnionPay on and off campus, the acceptance scope of the "UnionPay" mobile app and other UnionPay innovative payment products is expanding too, meeting the diverse payment demands of students. Third, UnionPay is offering more added-value services and privileges related to overseas study.

UnionPay education payment service continues to expand

UnionPay education payment service has become a special feature for UnionPay's cross-border online payment service. It has many advantages: it is safe, fast, and the funds will be deducted in RMB. In addition to Flywire and Western Union, several online education payment platforms such as Easy Transfer, iEduPay and the official tuition payment platform of the Imperial Bank of Canada (CIBC) have also started accepting UnionPay cards. Easy Transfer is China's largest online financial service platform for overseas study, on which students are able to pay the tuition fees and dormitory rent for thousands of renowned colleges and universities outside mainland China. On iEduPay (www.iedupay.com), a platform jointly developed by UnionPay International and www.aoji.cn, cardholders are able to pay tuition fees to all the colleges, universities, government-sponsored high schools in Australia. CIBC is one of the top five banks in Canada, and its tuition payment platform covers many schools in the country.

Students and parents can also pay tuition fees at the POS terminals on the campus of educational institutions outside mainland China. UnionPay is accepted at POS terminals in more than 1,100 schools, colleges and universities in Australia, about 80 educational institutions in Singapore, and hundreds more in Europe, such as Britain, France, and Italy. Cardholders can also pay tuition fees online with UnionPay cards at the official website of over 700 educational institutions in the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

As countries and regions along the "Belt and Road" have become new destinations for Chinese students, the UnionPay education payment service in Russia, Kazakhstan, and other B&R countries has been continuously improved. Moscow State University, Far Eastern Federal University, Plekhanov University of Economics and many more universities have accepted UnionPay cards for tuition and accommodation payment. In 2017, the amount of tuition paid with UnionPay cards by Chinese students grew by several dozen times year-on-year.

UnionPay offers better payment experiences to students studying overseas

With the UnionPay acceptance network extending to 169 countries and regions, students can now use UnionPay cards at the merchants and ATMs on and off campus. For instance, UnionPay cards are accepted at campus bookstores in over 20 key universities in the US, such as Columbia University, New York University, and UCLA. UnionPay is accepted at the POS terminals on about 20 university campuses in France. Students may also apply for UnionPay cards in their study destinations. So far, UnionPay cards are issued in 48 countries and regions, including Hong Kong, Australia, the US, and Canada.

Chinese students can download the "UnionPay" mobile app to enjoy smooth mobile payment service in 26 countries and regions outside mainland China, including the US, Australia, and Canada. Among merchants accepting UnionPay cards in Australia, more than 60% accept UnionPay mobile QuickPass, and students can make tap-and-go payments at these merchants. In Russia, there are over one million POS terminals accepting UnionPay mobile QuickPass, covering fast food stores, supermarkets, and shopping malls popular among students.