Imagine waiting weeks to hear about your uni application. That was the reality for international students applying to Western Sydney University, until they implemented a game-changing solution.
A dynamic and forward-thinking institution with a global reputation for academic excellence and impactful research, Western Sydney University is the preferred choice for international students seeking a thriving hub of opportunity, diversity, and innovation. With over 200 programmes open to international students, Western Sydney University continually challenges academic norms and pushes boundaries. However, one of the first steps in their international student journey was significantly impacting the student experience, critical agent relationships, and staff morale – international application processing.
So, in 2016 the international operations team decided to revolutionise their international application process using StudyLink, now a Flywire product, resulting in dramatic improvements across the ecosystem.
The challenges
Competition for a place to study at Western University Sydney is fierce. The University receives more than 30,000 applications a year from students all over the world.
Each application had to be manually logged, checked, and assessed before an offer or rejection letter could be issued. Despite staff working overtime they could only process five applications a day which meant students had to wait 2-4 weeks before receiving a decision about their future.
Eager to know what their future held, students frequently contacted their education recruitment agents for updates on their applications. However, agents had no visibility into the progress so had to relay these requests to already stretched university staff who were often slow to respond, causing frustration among agents and students.
The solution
International application processing at Western Sydney University underwent dramatic transformation after implementing StudyLink in 2016. Agents (and direct applicants) can now use the intuitive StudyLink platform to complete, submit, and track their applications to Western Sydney University. Real-time status updates throughout the entire assessment journey, including acceptance, provided transparency and eliminated uncertainty for agents and students, and the offer acceptance and payment workflow provides a frictionless experience, improving relationships and collaboration across the international education ecosystem.
Manual processing has been eliminated because the international operations team now securely receives and manages applications within the StudyLink platform and can share them with relevant teams across the University to facilitate speedy assessment, meaning manual processing is eliminated, reducing staff workload.
Integrations, up and downstream, with the University’s student management system, Banner, allow critical applicant and student information to flow seamlessly, supporting decision-making and simplifying internal and government reporting, as well as automating commission calculations, eliminating manual errors.
Agent management at Western Sydney University has improved immeasurably. From previously using spreadsheets staff can now liaise with agents, and manage their performance, all within StudyLink. And [the information] is there for everybody to see – this consistency has been particularly useful in recent times with staff changes across the sector.
![Associate Director, International Admissions and Compliance, Western Sydney University]()
Staff find StudyLink easy to use. They use it for everything, in fact [they] don’t need to leave StudyLink to do their work! From a manager’s point of view, staff workloads can be monitored, broken down by both agent and country, and managed more effectively.
![Associate Director, International Admissions and Compliance, Western Sydney University]()
