Since its founding in 1843, the tight-knit community and academic reputation of Université Bishop's have drawn students to its campus in the borough of Lennoxville, in the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec.
Students around the world seek this institution’s exceptional learning experience, with roughly 25% of its 2,500 student population hailing from 70 different countries.
Solution: Flywire proves to be an agile platform for adjusting to new regulations
Having a modern, agile payment platform served the university well when the Canadian government issued regulations capping international student enrollment and introduced new requirements for study two years ago. With Flywire, Université Bishop's could easily accept payments from students anywhere in the world, and avoid any finance-related roadblocks if needing documentation to study, including functionality that enabled the university to:
- Seamlessly accept payments from students in 140+ currencies. Flywire supports local payments in 140+ currencies across 240+ countries and territories, in compliance with global financial regulations and security standards. This scalability and assurance of security helps attract international students from a diverse range of countries.
- Quickly process payment to ensure progress of visa and study permits. Flywire makes it easy for Bishop’s students and the Finance Services team to quickly process and track payments, removing barriers for students looking to provide proof of funds and necessary financial information needed to obtain visa and study permits.
- Support students in their local languages and time zones. Flywire’s around-the-clock, multilingual support ensures students and families get prompt localized answers to payment-related questions. This helps to boost confidence in the payment process and ease potential anxiety around enrollment.
“It's very important that we have an integrated payment solution that does not require any extra follow up or transfer from one department to another,” Izmaylova said.
Solution: Flywire proves to be an agile platform for adjusting to new regulations
Having a modern, agile payment platform served the university well when the Canadian government issued regulations capping international student enrollment and introduced new requirements for study two years ago. With Flywire, Bishop’s University could easily accept payments from students anywhere in the world, and avoid any finance-related roadblocks if needing documentation to study, including functionality that enabled the university to:
- Seamlessly accept payments from students in 140+ currencies. Flywire supports local payments in 140+ currencies across 240+ countries and territories, in compliance with global financial regulations and security standards. This scalability and assurance of security helps attract international students from a diverse range of countries.
- Quickly process payment to ensure progress of visa and study permits. Flywire makes it easy for Bishop’s students and the Finance Services team to quickly process and track payments, removing barriers for students looking to provide proof of funds and necessary financial information needed to obtain visa and study permits.
- Support students in their local languages and time zones. Flywire’s around-the-clock, multilingual support ensures students and families get prompt localized answers to payment-related questions. This helps to boost confidence in the payment process and ease potential anxiety around enrollment.
“It's very important that we have an integrated payment solution that does not require any extra follow up or transfer from one department to another,” Izmaylova said.
Benefits: Automation frees up time to enable Finance Services to be a stronger partner to other departments
Automating the entire payment, reconciliation and refund process for international students ensures that Bishop’s small Finance Services office can now more easily provide exceptional support. Benefits include:
- Reduced administrative friction. With Flywire, staff can now process refunds and find payment information without being inconvenienced by minor formatting errors. For example, the system accommodates special characters and spaces, allowing administration to more easily input and search student information, reducing frustration and saving time.
- Faster month-end close. Flywire generates comprehensive reports that provide staff all necessary data for bank reconciliation. In addition, automation makes the month-end close process faster for the accounting team.
- Easier refunding. Flywire’s centralized dashboard makes it easier to view payment information, track and manage refunds.
- Enhanced cross-departmental collaboration. By streamlining processes, the finance team is now able to spend more time giving finance-related advice to departments across campus, becoming a key partner in accomplishing strategic goals and new initiatives.
The platform is really useful and user-friendly. The reports we receive from Flywire provide all the information we need for our reconciliation.
Future: What’s next for Université Bishop's
Building on its strong relationship with Flywire, Université Bishop's plans to start piloting additional technology that will automate more non-tuition receivables arising from non-academic services provided by the University. The Finance Services office is also looking to implement Flywire’s Outgoing Payments solution to ease complex payment processes – such as one-time remunerations or transferring funds to international students who have left university.
“We always receive strong and reliable support from Flywire, and we truly appreciate it,” Izmaylova said.
Université Bishop's at a glance
Founded in 1843, Université Bishop's is a primarily undergraduate university with five faculties and over 100 programs. Tucked between two rivers in the green hills of the Eastern Townships region of Quebec, the 550-acre campus hosts a diverse and multi-talented student body of about 2,800 full-time students, many of whom live right on campus.
Université Bishop's is described as one of the most close-knit university environments in all of Canada. The school aims to foster a genuine sense of community and belonging.
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