The Connections feature on BridgeU allows students to directly express interest in and engage with partner universities on the platform. While this feature is not accessible from the advisor/counselor dashboard, it is helpful for advisors/counselors to understand how it works, so they can guide students on how connections with universities are created and managed.
What are connections?
The Connect feature allows the student to express their interest and engage directly with universities on BridgeU, like interacting with universities at a fair or event.
Note: This feature is available only for partner universities. You can view the list of our partner universities below.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G6OoZtcex2xvLlA1g9bH3NGb7HPa3jZqF0Q8A-yMSlU/edit?gid=0#gid=0
How can a student turn connections on?
When a student logs in to their BridgeU student account, they will see a pop-up prompting you to set up the Connections feature.
To proceed, they need to click Accept & Finish Setup.
How are connections created by a student?
Connections can only be created by students; advisors cannot connect with universities on a student’s behalf. Advisors will see the Connect button greyed out. When clicked, a pop-up message will appear, as shown in the screenshot below.
There are three actions that will create a connection with a university:
Clicking Connect
Downloading a brochure
Adding a university to Your List- When a student adds a partner university to Your List for the first time, a pop-up appears explaining the Connections feature and asking the student to either “Connect with universities” to enable updates from that university or “Skip and add to list.” If the student chooses to connect, the university connection is automatically established.
Any of these actions will automatically establish a connection with the university.
Student Consent
Students are required to provide consent one time. Based on their response, their actions may result in a connection being created and their contact information being shared with partner universities.
Providing consent is mandatory to establish a connection and share contact information with universities.
Students will be asked to provide consent in the following situations:
During onboarding
If a student selects “I’ll do this later” during onboarding, they will be asked to provide consent later when performing an action that creates a connection. At that point, student will need to click Agree & Continue to proceed (for example, when clicking Connect, downloading a brochure, or adding a university to Your List).
Please note that Consent can only be provided by the student. Students have full control and may choose not to connect, no connection will be created and no information will be shared without their consent. For more information, read about BridgeU’s data sharing and privacy policy here: https://bridge-u.com/privacy/?utm#Privacy-Notice-for-Students-and-their-Parents
What information is shared with the student?
When a student creates a connection, the university receives only the information required to share relevant updates with them, including: First name and last name, Email address, Date of birth, Graduation year, School name, School country, etc.
How do Connections benefit the student?
Showing interest: Students can connect directly with universities to signal their interest in applying and stand out to admissions teams.
Staying informed: Students can receive updates directly from universities on admissions requirements, fees, deadlines, essay prompts, and scholarship opportunities.
Discovering more options: Students can get personalised university recommendations based on their interactions, helping them expand their university search.
Strengthening their university search: Students can stay up to date with information shared directly by universities, including admissions requirements, fees, deadlines, essay prompts, and scholarship opportunities.
How can students remove a connection?
If a student no longer wishes to receive updates from a university, they can disconnect at any time by visiting its profile on BridgeU.
Click Connected on the university profile
A confirmation pop-up will appear
Click Disconnect anyway to remove the connection.
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