BARCLAYS has been appointed to support Ulster University's vision for cashless campuses.
It has been contracted by the university to take on all day-to-day banking services - from payments, salaries and wages, through to the collection of student fees, direct debits and foreign exchange.
And with rapid developments in technology, this is likely to evolve to include cashless payments for everything from library fees and photocopying cards to grabbing a cappuccino.
Ulster University has 27,000 students across four campuses in Belfast, Coleraine, Jordanstown and Magee in Derry.
Its new 75,000 sq m campus in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, due to open in 2021, is providing a catalyst to begin the financial transformation whilst infrastructure is being built.
Barclays corporate banking relationship director Graeme McLaughlin said: “The university's leadership team has been really visionary in its approach.
“With the Magee and Coleraine campus investments accompanied by the construction of the new Belfast city centre campus, Ulster has an opportunity to do things differently, and that includes a modern approach to financial technology.
“Many universities around the UK have the ambition to go cashless, but very few are in the position to achieve it.
“Barclays has always been at the forefront of digital innovation in banking, driven by our focus on the user experience. Ulster University’s customers are young people who have come of age without reliance on traditional payments, paperwork and over the counter cash transactions
“The University’s ambition to make all types of payments cash-free, contactless, instant and secure, is precisely as today’s students have grown up to expect.”
Ulster University’s chief financial officer Peter Hope added: “With the recent campus investments including tech-led solutions for our digitally savvy students, we are seizing the opportunity to make some really exciting innovations which will further demonstrate Ulster University’s place as a progressive modern institution.”
