Students are beginning to apply for studying overseas for the 2017 school year. UnionPay International announced today that in Australia, one of the major overseas destinations for Chinese students, UnionPay cards are accepted at about 30,000 ATMs and over 600,000 POS terminals, covering 90% of the ATMs and about 70% of the local merchants (over half of these merchants accept UnionPay mobile QuickPass). The local UnionPay payment service system for students who study abroad is also improving.
Since 1 July 2016, the Australian Government Department of Immigration and Border Protection has policies in favor of foreign students, implementing the Simplified Student Visa Framework. According to the White Paper on China’s Young Students Studying Abroad, Australia has become the second best choice for the Chinese students to have undergraduate education abroad for its excellent higher education and relevant policies.
Chinese students who start to study abroad are increasingly younger, UnionPay International is accelerating the improvement of the UnionPay acceptance environment in major destinations to meet the students’ demand for safe and convenient payment services. In Australia, it is convenient to pay for education: students may pay tuition with UnionPay cards online on platforms like peerTransfer and Western Union or on the self-developed tuition payment platforms of Curtin University and the Language School of University of New South Wales. Students may also pay for textbooks and accommodation with UnionPay via POS terminals in over 200 schools.
It is also convenient to use UnionPay cards at ATMs and merchants. About 280,000 POS terminals in Australia support UnionPay mobile QuickPass, which means that more than half of the physical stores accepting UnionPay accept UnionPay chip cards with the QuickPass signage and various QuickPass-enabled smartphones. This year, the UnionPay contactless payments in Australia has exceeded 100 million yuan.
UnionPay International is accelerating the introduction of innovative products and services in Australia. Meanwhile, UnionPay International attaches great importance to payment safety. On the one hand, it is promoting the acceptance and usage of the safer UnionPay contactless payment and mobile QuickPass. On the other, it is strengthening the training of merchant staff, improving system inspections and compliance to build a safe and convenient payment environment together with institutions and merchants.
