Recognized as one of the most prestigious universities in Latin America, Tecnológico de Monterrey is a private, non-profit multi-campus university system with a long history of academic excellence, educational innovation, entrepreneurship and internationalization. It’s renowned for strong relationships with industry and employers.
Founded in 1943, with 26 different campuses across Mexico including a medical school, the school offers a rich variety of areas of study to its more than 94,000 students. Tecnológico de Monterrey graduates are the next generation of leaders, steeped in the institution's mission of training students with an entrepreneurial spirit, a human sense and a high level of competitiveness. This excellence is evidenced in the recognition it has earned at multiple levels, including:
- Accreditation since 1951 by Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools
- QS World University Rankings 2023 – No. 30 among private universities
- QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022 –No. 1 in Latin America; No. 26 in the world
- Times Higher Education Latin America Universities 2022 – ranked No. 4
- The only university outside the U.S. in the 2022 Top Schools for Undergraduate Entrepreneurship by Princeton Review and Entrepreneur – ranked No. 6
Challenge
Tecnológico de Monterrey takes a global approach to its curricula and attracts a diverse international base of students. It has 18 international offices and academic relationships with 706 universities in 46 countries. As its international student base grew, collecting and reconciling tuition payments through its banking partner created significant challenges for its treasury team.
Managing payments solely through its banking partner involved a lot of manual work. Payments often did not arrive with complete information or in the full amount, and it was also difficult to accurately and efficiently track incoming payments in different currencies from different countries. International bank transfers were often slow and arrived in batches, making it difficult to identify who was paying for what exactly. In addition, fluctuating foreign exchange (FX) rates and hidden transaction fees often led to short payments that resulted in student registration delays and additional administrative work.
To better serve its growing global student population, the institution needed a solution that offered convenient, economical and local payment options for international students in different countries. It also wanted to make it easier for its treasury team to identify and apply those payments to the correct student account.
Solution
Looking to improve the payer experience and streamline operations, Tecnológico de Monterrey implemented Flywire in 2020. It chose Flywire because the technology supported a variety of payment methods and allowed students to pay in local currencies. With Flywire, international students can securely pay their tuition online via their preferred method, in their local currency, no matter where they are located. And the institution receives and reconciles payment in its preferred currencies – USD and MXN. Flywire also provides around-the-clock multilingual support to help students and families navigate the payment process.
Flywire has helped Tecnológico de Monterrey serve countries where transfers or card payments were challenging. It’s also given more clarity on what geographies payments are coming from, opening doors to attract more students from those places – including Denmark, Austria, Equatorial Guinea, India, Japan, South Korea, Jamaica, Poland, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Singapore and more.
What’s more, by directly integrating Flywire with its student portal, the institution now has a comprehensive real-time platform, and has streamlined the receipt and reconciliation of international student payments. This has not only resulted in significant time savings for treasury staff, but also an improved experience for students worldwide.
