Privacy Policy

Bridge Education Group, Inc. and its affiliate companies (together "Bridge", "we," "us" or "our"), provide language immersion courses, teacher training programs, study abroad programs, translation and interpretation services, and a variety of other language-related services worldwide. We believe that protecting your privacy is an integral part of the service we provide and we know that you care about how your information is used. Because our ability to serve you successfully depends on building and maintaining communication with you, we have implemented measures designed to protect the privacy of your personal information, as described in our Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, store, use and protect your personal information and governs your interaction with our website, your use of our online services and other interaction you may have with us in the course of participating in our programs and using our services.

BY APPLYING FOR OUR SERVICES, YOU EXPRESSLY CONSENT TO OUR USE AND DISCLOSURE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AS DESCRIBED IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY.

Please note that we review and may change our privacy practices from time to time. We ask that you bookmark and periodically review this page to ensure continuing familiarity with the most current version of our Privacy Policy. You may determine whether we have changed our Privacy Policy since you last reviewed it by checking the date of adoption set forth below. To contact us about privacy issues, to report a violation of our Privacy Policy or to raise any other issue, please contact us via our contact information provided on the bottom of each page of our website. Please also note that this Privacy Policy is for services provided by Bridge and its affiliated companies; it does not apply to other third party web sites linked to from our website or to services of third party providers. Please check the privacy policies of those entities for more information.


How do we collect information and what information do we collect?

We collect information through various means, through our website, through our program applications and through information we request from you and you provide to us, or ask others to provide to us, when you order our services, request information and/or interact with us in any way where information is exchanged.

We gather two types of information about users of our website and services:

1. Non-personally identifiable information: When you visit our website, we collect and aggregate information indicating, among other things, which pages of the website were visited, the order in which they were visited and which hyperlinks were "clicked." Collecting such information involves the logging of the IP addresses, operating system and browser software used by each visitor to our website. If your IP address is dynamically assigned by your internet service provider, or ISP, we can identify your ISP and determine the geographic location of your point of connectivity.

We also use "cookies" (i.e. small text files placed on your computer hard drive by our servers) to help us determine the type of content and sites to which you link, the length of time you spend at any particular area of our website, which services you use and which products you purchase. Essentially, cookies are your identification card. Cookies can only be read by the server that placed them and are unable to execute any code or virus. Cookies allow us to serve you better and more efficiently and to personalize your experience at our website. Nevertheless, you should be able to control how and whether cookies will be accepted by your web browser. For more information on how to do so, please refer to the documentation accompanying your browser.

2. Personal information: Throughout this policy we use the term "personal information" or "personal data" to describe information that can be used to identify, directly or indirectly, a specific individual. We do not consider personal information to include information that has been anonymized so that it does not identify a specific user. You are not required to provide Bridge the personal information we request, but if you choose not to do so, we may not be able to provide you with our products or services or with a high quality of service or respond to any questions you may have. We may collect personal information about you through various means. In certain areas of our website – for example, when registering with us, signing our guestbook, emailing us to purchase products or services, filling out an online application, or using the "Request Information" page – you may directly provide us with personal information (including, for example, first and last name, school and work experience, date and country of birth, country of citizenship, references, interests, personal preferences, street address, email address, telephone number, fax number and if applicable, credit card information) of you and others. You may also authorize others to release other information about you to us, for example, you may authorize your home college or university to release your education records to us. If you apply for and are admitted into one of our programs, you may also be asked to provide us with medical information, information about disabilities that require accommodations, emergency contact information and other personal information that we need to assist with placing you and securing you safety while abroad. In addition, if you provide your personal information to our affiliates or business partners, they may share such information with us (subject to their privacy policies). If your IP address is statically assigned by your ISP, we may also collect personal information about you through our logging of your IP address. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from minors (i.e. persons younger than 18 years of age) but we do not collect age related information on our website so we have no information about the age of persons accessing out website. If you are a minor, we request that you have a parent or guardian read this policy and request any information you are seeking from us on your behalf. By providing personal information to us, you represent that the person whose information you are providing is not a minor.

Linking of non-personally identifiable information we gather with your personal information

Once you have registered with our website, we may be able to link your personal information to the non- personally identifiable information we have collected through the use of cookies as described above. For example, once you register, we could see what type of content and sites you have viewed, the length of time you have spent at any particular area of our website and which products and services you have used or purchased in the past and from that point on, track that information with respect to your future visits to our website.


How do we use the information we gather?

We use the information we gather in a variety of ways. Please take some time to familiarize yourself with the different ways we use the information that we gather.

1. Non-personally identifiable information. We use non-personally identifiable information in aggregate form to build higher quality, more useful online services by performing statistical analyses of the collective characteristics and behavior of our visitors and by measuring demographics and interests regarding specific areas of our website. We may provide statistical information based on this data to current and potential affiliates and business partners. We may also use the aggregate data to inform our affiliates and business partners as to the number of people who have seen and clicked on links to their websites.

2. Personal information. We use personal information provided to us by you or by others on your behalf, to provide services to you, to process a job application to join us, to seek your views or comments on the services we provide, to notify you of changes to our services and send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you. These may include newsletters, product updates; activities & promotions of our services. For example, when you apply to participate in one of our study abroad programs, we use the information you provide to us to determine eligibility for admission into our programs. We do not sell your personal information to third parties, except if you opt-in to TEFLConnection, in which case we may send your contact information to employers advertising on the BridgeTEFL Job Board seeking candidates who match your qualifications.

We may partner with other third parties to provide various products or services and we may need to share the information we gather with our affiliates and third-party partners who assist us in providing services to you, as part of our admissions process or as necessary after enrollment in our programs. For example, we may share the personal information provided in your study abroad application with your sponsoring institutions, home and host universities, internship sites, housing authorities and our study abroad centers as part of the admissions process. Subject to obtaining your written consent regarding your educational records, we must be allowed to share this information with the specified parties as part of the application and enrollment process. Although we take reasonable steps to assure that these third parties are obligated to protect your personal information, we do not control their actions. We may also need to share your personal information with hospitals, medical providers, government officials and law enforcement agencies in the event of an emergency while you are abroad. Notification in these circumstances will be at our discretion.

If you are enrolled in a Bridge program or apply for our services, we and our affiliates may contact you before, during and after your contract with us. We may also periodically send you email notifications concerning other products or services. Any such notifications will include instructions for opting out of future mailing. Please see "Unsubscribing from our Marketing Distribution Lists" below.

You can always choose not to provide your personal information to us by not registering with us, signing our guestbook, emailing us to purchase products or services, filling out an online application, using the "Request Information" page, subscribing to our mailing or notification lists or otherwise providing such information to us or to our affiliates or other business partners. If you choose not to provide us with the personal information we request, we may not be able to provide you with our products or services or with a high quality of service or respond to any questions you may have.

We reserve the right to release information contained within our access logs concerning any visitor when we reasonably believe that such visitor has violated our Terms of Use or other published guidelines or has participated in any illegal activity, even without a subpoena, warrant or other court order. We also reserve the right to release such information in response to court and governmental orders, civil subpoenas, discovery requests and as otherwise required by law. We cooperate with law enforcement agencies in identifying those who may be using our servers or services for illegal activities and may report any suspected illegal activity to appropriate authorities for investigation or prosecution. We may or may not notify you of this release. Notification will be at our discretion and will be based upon the nature and conditions surrounding the release of information.

3. What Security Measures We Take. We protect your personal information by implementing and maintaining appropriate physical, electronic and procedural safeguards. We use computer safeguards such as data encryption for online submissions forms (not emails), we enforce physical access controls to our buildings and files, and we authorize access to personal information only for those employees and contractors who require it to fulfill their job responsibilities. To the extent we bill you through credit card transactions, we direct your authorization to vendors who comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards; Bridge does not collect credit card information. Despite these precautions, Internet transactions of credit card data and personal information are always at risk.

4. Links to Other Services. Some pages on website may contain links to other services provided by third parties. We do not provide any personally identifiable customer information through these links. When you click on one of these links (for example, as noted above, we use a third party provider to process credit card payments), you are moving to a third party's site. Any information you submit after that point is out of our control. We do not have access to or control over cookies or other features that they may use and encourage you to read the privacy statements of these linked services as their privacy policy may differ from ours. We strongly encourage you to become familiar with the privacy practices of those sites and third parties. If you feel that any third party, including any provider, affiliate or business partner of ours, is improperly collecting or using information about you, you may wish to contact such third party. If we receive your personal information from a third party, we will use such information in accordance with our agreements with such third party, but do not assume any obligation to you.


Your rights and your personal data

You have the following rights with respect to your personal data. When exercising any of the rights listed below, in order to process your request, we may need to verify your identity for your security. In such cases we will need you to respond with proof of your identity before you can exercise these rights.

  • The right to be informed.

    You have the right to be provided with clear, transparent, easily understandable information about how we use your personal information and your rights. Therefore, we're providing you with the information in this Policy notice.

  • The right to access personal data we hold on you

    The accuracy of your information is important to us. We're working on ways to make it easier for you to review and correct the information that we hold about you. In the meantime, if you change email address, or if any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please email us at the email address provided below.

  • The right to correct and update the personal data we hold on you

    If the data we hold on you is out of date, incomplete or incorrect, you may inform us and your data will be updated subject to our verification.

  • The right to be forgotten

    Under certain circumstances, you may have the right to request that we erase the personal data we hold. When we receive your request, we will take reasonable steps to respond to your request in accordance with legal requirements. If the personal information we collect is no longer needed for any purpose and we are not required by law to retain it, we will do what we can to destroy or permanently de-identify it.

  • The right to object to processing of your personal data or to restrict it to certain purposes only

    You have the right to request that we stop processing your personal data or ask us to restrict processing. Upon receiving the request, we will contact you and let you know if we are able to comply or if we have a legal obligation to continue to process your data.

  • The right to data portability

    You have the right to request that we transfer some of your data to another party. We will comply with your request, where it is feasible to do so, promptly and in accordance with applicable regulations.

  • The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time for any processing of data to which consent was obtained

    You can withdraw your consent easily by telephone, email, or by mail.

  • The right to lodge a complaint with local regulators responsible for data protection.

To exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints please, in the first instance, contact Bridge via email at the address shown on our Website. If this does not resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you may contact the applicable authority.


California Residents' Privacy

If you are a California resident, you may ask for a list of third parties that have received your information for direct marketing purposes during the previous calendar year. This list also contains the types of information shared. We provide this list at no cost. We do not share your information with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

If you are in Switzerland or the European Economic Area (EEA), you may have additional rights under data protection law.

Transfers to the U.S. and Third Countries. If you reside in Switzerland or the European Economic Area ("EEA"), you understand and acknowledge that Bridge may transfer your personal data outside of Switzerland and the EEA for processing. By way of example, this may happen because we have servers located in the United States. Upon your explicit written request, Bridge may execute Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission for the benefit of the customer ("Customer SCCs") in order to ensure adequate protection for the Personal Data in accordance with the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation.

If you use our services while you are outside the EEA, your information may be transferred outside the EEA in order to provide you with those services.


Unsubscribing from our marketing distribution lists

If you would like to unsubscribe from our marketing distribution lists, please contact us via the contact information at the bottom of each page of our website. In addition, if we send you an email, you can unsubscribe by responding to the email with a "Remove" request or by clicking on the link to unsubscribe at the bottom of the email. We will comply with your request within ten business days. Keep in mind, however, that residual information will remain within our databases, access logs and other records. We will not use the residual information for commercial purposes, but reserve the right to re-contact former customers or users of our website from time to time in compliance with applicable laws.


You Can Contact Us

If you have any privacy-related questions that are not addressed here, please contact us via our contact information provided on the bottom of each page of our website.

Last updated: March 2019