CANADA PRESS RELEASE: IDP transforming the international student recruitment process with FastLane

IDP, the global leader in international education services, is transforming its international student recruitment offering with FastLane, an offer-in-principle service co-created with institutions from across Canada, the UK and Australia. This revolutionary service helps prospective international students find their ideal institution and program at the click of a button and in many cases, five times faster than standard applications.

Since launching FastLane in July 2021, 60 Australian and UK institutions are using the service and an impressive 8,500 offers-in-principle have already been made. In addition, a number of Canadian institutions have signed contracts to start using the service, benefiting prospective international students looking to study in the country with a streamlined application process, improved matching that helps both students and counsellors, and expedited offer times once the right course is selected.

FastLane was co-created with institutions, for institutions, to help them overcome the key challenges they face in international recruitment. By helping institutions more efficiently recruit high-quality, diverse students, IDP is assisting universities and colleges in overcoming some of the biggest barriers in recruitment.

Accessible through an app with over 500,000 downloads, across IDP's suite of translated websites and now live across IDP offices in 16 countries, FastLane invites students to share their study goals and current qualifications. Upon completing their academic profiles, students are matched to courses they are eligible to apply for based on the rules the institution has set. If they want to proceed, students can receive an in-principle offer from their chosen institution instantly.

This transformative real-time response means students only apply to courses where they know they meet the institution entry criteria, greatly reducing the number of applications they make, while institutions only receive higher quality applications that meet their entry criteria, creating efficiencies in how they process applications.

For example, students using the FastLane service to apply to Australian institutions have received an offer an average of five times faster (18 days faster than average).

Simon Emmett, CEO of IDP Connect, said: “It’s really exciting to be at the forefront of something that has never been done in international education. FastLane is already delivering transformative change and sophisticated matching for our students.“

Meanwhile, our counsellors are able to see if students are matched already to an organization that they’re most likely to be successful in based on their objectives. FastLane is a game-changer and students’ finalized applications and entry into institutions are taking minutes as opposed to weeks.”

Institution partners also benefit in a variety of ways, including improved efficiencies among admissions teams, recruitment of more highly qualified international students, diversification and acceleration of the recruitment process.  

Since the launch of the service 60 Australian and UK institutions are using FastLane and are already seeing positive results, including RMIT, UNSW, University of Birmingham, University of Leicester and University of York.

Danielle Fitzgerald, Director of the Future Student Office at the University of Leicester, says of FastLane: “For us it was a bit of a no-brainer to leverage IDP’s global network and go with a product that supports students who are ready and prepared, giving them the VIP service that they wouldn’t necessarily get if they were doing a direct application from those countries where we don’t have a lot of representation at present.

“I think the counsellor, even with this great initiative and piece of tech, is still key as part of this journey. For us, it’s an opportunity to really build that relationship with the counsellors and ensure that we’re transmitting the best information to our students.”

IDP’s student counsellors remain at the centre of FastLane’s success. They offer a human-centred approach and personalized support that help prospective students make the right higher education decisions.

IDP Student Counsellor, Barsha Kansakar (Nepal office), says: “IDP’s technology has made my role as a counsellor much easier and has allowed me to work more efficiently. I can shortlist courses that match the profile of my students and give them the best-suited options. I am able to provide fast-tracked services to them, which has made conversations between me and my students much more enriching.”    

IDP continues to work with students and institutions across the globe to adapt and co-create FastLane.