If your school has teachers who contribute to the UCAS Reference often referred to as Report Writers — BridgeU's Reference Letter Tool allows you to set them up with their own accounts, assign them to specific students and subjects, and collect their written contributions directly within the platform. Their input is then compiled into the final UCAS Reference for each student.
What Is a Report Writer?
A Report Writer is a teacher account in BridgeU that is specifically used to contribute to the UCAS Reference. Report Writers do not have full Advisor permissions , they can only view the students they've been assigned to and write their portion of the reference.
Step 1: Create Report Writer Accounts
Report Writer accounts are created in the same way as any other user account in BridgeU — through the user import process.
To create Report Writer accounts:
Go to School Settings > Import Users Via Spreadsheet.
Download the Report Writer template.
Fill in the teacher details as prompted by the template.
Upload the completed spreadsheet back into BridgeU to generate the new accounts.
For step-by-step guidance on using the user import process, including tips on preparing your spreadsheet and troubleshooting common upload errors, please refer to Adding Users.
Step 2: Assign Students and Subjects to Report Writers
nce your Report Writer accounts have been created, navigate to Reference Letters → Students in your Advisor account.
From the Students tab, search for and select the student you would like to manage.
On the student's Reports page, use the Manage report writers panel to assign one or more Report Writers and specify the subject each writer will contribute to.
To add an assignment:
Select a Report Writer from the Writer dropdown.
Enter the relevant Subject.
Click Add report writer if you would like to assign additional writers.
Click Save to confirm your changes.
A student can have multiple Report Writers assigned, allowing different teachers or staff members to contribute subject-specific reference letters. You can also review submission progress and completion status directly from the Report Writers overview page.
For detailed instructions on how to assign report writers and how the resulting written contributions flow into the final UCAS Reference, please refer to BridgeU's Reference Letters Tool Guide.
Creating and Assigning Report Writers in Bulk (10+ Accounts)
If you need to create or assign more than 10 report writers at once, you can complete this process in bulk.
To do this, fill in the required details in the spreadsheet template (please refer to the screenshot) and send the completed file to hi@bridge-u.com. The BridgeU Support team will process the creation and assignment of report writers on your behalf.
If your school prefers to use its own spreadsheet template, please ensure the following information is included in separate columns:
Teacher’s first name
Teacher’s last name
Teacher’s email address
Student’s email address
Subject (optional, but strongly recommended)
Important notes when filling in the bulk upload template:
The first two columns must contain the Report Writer's first and last name not the student's name. This is because the upload will also create any Report Writer accounts that don't yet exist before making the assignments.
The Email of Student column must contain an email address that matches an existing student account on BridgeU. If the student account cannot be found, the assignment for that row will fail.
If a teacher listed on the spreadsheet doesn't already have a Report Writer account, BridgeU will automatically create one using the details provided, then proceed with the student assignments.
Tip: Before sending your spreadsheet, double-check that all student email addresses match existing BridgeU accounts. Missing or mismatched emails are the most common cause of bulk upload errors.
If you have any questions, need further assistance or have some general feedback for us - we’d love to hear from you! Contact our Support team via Live Chat and by emailing hi@bridge-u.com.
You can also ask our BridgeU Community, a space exclusively for our BridgeU counsellors to ask questions, share insights, provide feedback and get help not just from BridgeU, but directly from other BridgeU counsellors.