Geoswift will aggregate the services of Western Union Business Solutions, a unit of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU), and UnionPay International, a subsidiary of China UnionPay focused on the growth and support of UnionPay's global business, to provide end-to-end payment services.

Through combining the services of Western Union Business Solutions and UnionPay International, participating universities and higher education institutions in Australia and Asia can now accept international tuition and student fees in the Chinese yuan (CNY), enabling Chinese students and families to pay these institutions in their local currency. Geoswift already provides this payment channel to students at more than 600 universities in Canada, Czech Republic, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

"China has quickly become the world's largest source of overseas students, growing 20 percent year-over-year," said Raymond Qu, CEO, Geoswift. "To support this demand and drive future growth, Geoswift is committed to providing Chinese students and their families with the fastest and easiest way to make international tuition payments with the Chinese yuan. Our entryway into Australia and throughout Asia is an important step towards ensuring Chinese students can attend any higher education institution in the world with simple, secure, and efficient payment method."

According to the Institute of International Education (IIE), in 2013 there were 41.4 million students across all ages being educated abroad, representing a 200 billion CNY industry. 91.3 percent are supported financially by family in China. Isolating the higher education segment, in 2013 there were an estimated 694,000 Chinese students studying abroad. This trend is expected to continue as the number of Chinese students studying overseas is estimated to grow by 585,000 through 2020, according to Education Intelligence, the global higher-education service for the British Council.

"For Chinese students, paying international tuition bills has traditionally been a long, complicated process," said Tung Nguyen, Asia Pacific Director of Products, Western Union Business Solutions. "We are proud to simplify this process by providing the world's leading payment platform with over 400 world-class universities, colleges and specialty institutions that trust our international transfers."

"Working with Geoswift has provided us the opportunity to bring swift and secure tuition payment options through our UnionPay card," said Shuan Ghaidan, Director of Products, UnionPay International. "Students using the UnionPay card through Geoswift's services complete tuition payments on average in only 2-3 minutes, compared to 15-30 minutes spent on reservation, queuing up, and form filling in traditional over-the-counter remittance service."