diff --git a/app/controllers/iop/collaboration/impl/CollaborationController.java b/app/controllers/iop/collaboration/impl/CollaborationController.java
index eafb90b79..6a71f1bf6 100644
--- a/app/controllers/iop/collaboration/impl/CollaborationController.java
+++ b/app/controllers/iop/collaboration/impl/CollaborationController.java
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.net.URL;
-import java.net.URLEncoder;
-import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Optional;
@@ -35,6 +33,7 @@
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import play.libs.Json;
 import play.libs.ws.WSClient;
+import play.libs.ws.WSRequest;
 import play.libs.ws.WSResponse;
 import play.mvc.Result;
 import util.config.ConfigReader;
@@ -68,22 +67,20 @@ Optional<URL> parseUrl() {
         }
     }
 
-    Optional<URL> parseUrlWithSearchParam(String filter, boolean anonymous) {
-        try {
-            if (filter == null) {
-                return Optional.empty();
-            }
-            String paramStr = String.format(
-                "filter=%s&anonymous=%s",
-                URLEncoder.encode(filter, StandardCharsets.UTF_8),
-                anonymous
-            );
-            URI uri = URI.create(String.format("%s/api/exams/search?%s", configReader.getIopHost(), paramStr));
-            return Optional.of(uri.toURL());
-        } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
-            logger.error("Malformed URL", e);
-            return Optional.empty();
-        }
+    WSRequest getSearchRequest(Optional<String> filter) {
+        String host = configReader.getIopHost();
+        return filter
+            .map(s -> {
+                URI uri = URI.create(String.format("%s/api/exams/search", host));
+                return wsClient
+                    .url(uri.toString())
+                    .addQueryParameter("filter", s)
+                    .addQueryParameter("anonymous", "false");
+            })
+            .orElseGet(() -> {
+                URI uri = URI.create(String.format("%s/api/exams", host));
+                return wsClient.url(uri.toString());
+            });
     }
 
     protected CompletionStage<Optional<Exam>> downloadExam(CollaborativeExam ce) {
diff --git a/app/controllers/iop/collaboration/impl/CollaborativeEnrolmentController.java b/app/controllers/iop/collaboration/impl/CollaborativeEnrolmentController.java
index aadcc2e45..d4810c800 100644
--- a/app/controllers/iop/collaboration/impl/CollaborativeEnrolmentController.java
+++ b/app/controllers/iop/collaboration/impl/CollaborativeEnrolmentController.java
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 import io.ebean.Transaction;
 import io.ebean.text.PathProperties;
 import io.vavr.control.Either;
-import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Optional;
@@ -68,12 +67,7 @@ private Either<Result, Exam> checkExam(Exam exam, User user) {
 
     @Restrict({ @Group("STUDENT") })
     public CompletionStage<Result> searchExams(Optional<String> filter) {
-        Optional<URL> url = filter.orElse("").isEmpty() ? parseUrl() : parseUrlWithSearchParam(filter.get(), false);
-        if (url.isEmpty()) {
-            return wrapAsPromise(internalServerError("i18n_internal_error"));
-        }
-
-        WSRequest request = wsClient.url(url.get().toString());
+        WSRequest request = getSearchRequest(filter);
         String homeOrg = configReader.getHomeOrganisationRef();
         Function<WSResponse, Result> onSuccess = response ->
             findExamsToProcess(response)
diff --git a/app/controllers/iop/collaboration/impl/CollaborativeExamController.java b/app/controllers/iop/collaboration/impl/CollaborativeExamController.java
index 9faadca22..ca183ad41 100644
--- a/app/controllers/iop/collaboration/impl/CollaborativeExamController.java
+++ b/app/controllers/iop/collaboration/impl/CollaborativeExamController.java
@@ -101,13 +101,8 @@ private Exam prepareDraft(User user) {
     @Authenticated
     @Restrict({ @Group("ADMIN"), @Group("TEACHER") })
     public CompletionStage<Result> searchExams(Http.Request request, final Optional<String> filter) {
-        Optional<URL> url = filter.orElse("").isEmpty() ? parseUrl() : parseUrlWithSearchParam(filter.get(), false);
-        if (url.isEmpty()) {
-            return wrapAsPromise(internalServerError("i18n_internal_error"));
-        }
-
+        WSRequest wsRequest = getSearchRequest(filter);
         User user = request.attrs().get(Attrs.AUTHENTICATED_USER);
-        WSRequest wsRequest = wsClient.url(url.get().toString());
         String homeOrg = configReader.getHomeOrganisationRef();
 
         Function<WSResponse, Result> onSuccess = response ->