A new online funds verification service has been launched in beta-mode in the USA, which could revolutionise the way universities and governments verify the financial antecedents of international students, speeding up the recruitment process and reducing visa fraud.
FundsV, which launched with a test group of US universities last month, works by allowing universities to obtain reliable financial information about international students that proves they meet the visa requirements of the host country.
To register with the service, which suitable candidates are encouraged to do, students must be referred by one of the participating universities through a unique URL within their “.edu” domain. FundsV then accesses their banking information abroad securely and quickly via cloud computing, before passing it on to the university. The students pay the equivalent of a US$50 fee for unlimited use of the service in one year.
“We’ve mated international education and online banking,” explained owner of FundsV, Cheryl Darrup-Boychuck, who also runs the US Journal directory for international students looking to study abroad. “FundsV’s communications platform connects and exchanges financial information securely and reliably, so prospective students can satisfy host requirements with speed, certainty and confidence.”
The service will cut out the need for students to prove their financial status to support their visa application by providing paper copies of bank statements – and also cut out the fraud risk associated with this. Darrup-Boychuck, explaining that this current system is cumbersome, said it would also benefit governments by improving transparency and reducing costs in the visa application process.
The service also promises to make recruitment more efficient for universities by enabling them to identify students eligible for visas before making offers. It could genuinely revolutionise the student recruitment process – and Darrup-Boychuck pointed out that, according to a recent survey carried out by Inside Higher Ed, funds verification is an increasingly central consideration for admissions directors in the US, along with their wish to recruit “more out-of-state and international students”.
“It’s no surprise that our colleagues around the world want to maximise efficiencies earlier in the recruitment process, to focus resources on students likely to gain approval of their visa application,” said Darrup-Boychuck.
“Our colleagues around the world want to focus resources on students likely to gain visa approval”
The company has put formal proposals to Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship, and says interest is percolating from the US, UK and Canada, as well as other study destinations such as Singapore, Malaysia or Korea. FundsV has also formed a working group to establish global standards in its field – something that ties into a broader drive for transparency in the international education marketplace.
“Establishing global standards for funds verification will also lead to greater transparency as prospective international students research and compare their options for study abroad,” said Darrup-Boychuck.
