EM Normandie elevates payment experience for international and short course students with Flywire

EM Normandie has been educating the business leaders of tomorrow for over 150 years, with a keen focus on international trade and business from the start. Today, it is one of only 38 business schools to be a member of the Conference of Grande Écoles (CGE), and among only 1% of business schools in the world to hold triple accreditation with EQUIS, AACSB  and  AMBA. Its stellar reputation means the school attracts nearly 6,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students and 250 short term program students each year.

About EM Normandie

1871Founded
>1000International students
38Taught courses
7Campus locations
Euro, Livre, AED, USDPayment currencies

Challenge

EM Normandie’s International team had been struggling to manage payments from their international and short program students as well as payments for external events (partner days) payments. The process was lengthy and complicated, and far from ideal.

There would be regular discrepancies between international payments and the related invoices, usually because unexpected bank fees were deducted from the payment. Enrolment was also often delayed because the International team had to wait for the Finance team to validate these payments before proceeding. Overall, the experience, for both students and school, was full of uncertainty and frustration.

Solution

Every development at EM Normandie has put the students front and centre, and the project to overhaul international payments was no different. But doing so would also improve their internal processes. In 2021, with the support of the Digital Transformation department the International team implemented Flywire and, within a short space of time, found that their issues were resolved.

EM Normandie now offers international students a wide variety of local payment options with which to pay their deposits, application fees and accommodation bookings. The payment process is extremely simple and bank fees are now clearly displayed so students can see exactly what the full cost will be, ensuring the school receives the payment in full.

Now that EM Normandie has digitized the entire payment experience international and short course students now have fewer payment issues. Through Flywire’s direct system integration the International team now has instant visibility into each students’ payment status and can proceed with enrollment without delays. What’s more, Flywire has enabled the International team to be more self-sufficient and save many hours of administrative work at the same time.

EM Normandie

Results

5,000+ Transactions
2,500+ Payers
48+ Currencies
81+ Countries
Thousands of monitoring and follow-up hours saved
  • Flywire’s interface is reliable, unified and comprehensive. One of the main pain points that Flywire has helped us to resolve is the lengthy and complicated process of waiting for the finance department's approval for each payment. Now, we have instant visibility of each student's situation.

    Laurence Mariet-SanchezHead of International Recruitment
  • The simple interface provides transparency, making our work easier and it elevates the student experience so it is far superior to what it was before.


    Dorota LichmiraInternational Development Manager
  • We don’t have to worry about the bank fees as the schools received the right amount due easily. On top of that, students can choose different payment methods in a lot of currencies.

    Adam AharramInternational Project Manager
  • In the context of our summer school in 2023, we were able to manage registration fee payments for over 170 participants from around the world (Eurozone and non-Eurozone) as well as accommodation fee payments for approximately 100 participants.

    Virginie DelmotteErasmus & Short Programs Project Manager