McMaster Students Union Partners with Bounce to Enhance Campus Life and Boost Student Engagement

The McMaster Students Union (MSU) is excited to announce a new partnership with Bounce to make it the official community and events platform for the campus. McMaster now enters the ranks of other leading universities such as University of British Columbia, and Western University whose student unions have integrated Bounce into the campus life to boost student engagement.

The recent boom in Canadian universities partnering with Bounce to improve student engagement on campus means that the platform will support over 500,000+ students in Canada over the next scholastic year, encompassing more than one third of the entire student population in the country.

For the MSU in particular, this partnership comes at a crucial time as the student union invests deeply into boosting student engagement and creating an environment where students have more opportunity to build strong bonds and connect with one another. 

"Our job is to connect students, and if we're not doing that, we're failing." says Jovan Popovic, President of MSU, about its plans for the upcoming school year. “Things need to get better. There needs to be more offered, there needs to be more community, more people attending, more people coming out and meeting others.”

The MSU made its intent to invest into student engagement very clear earlier in the year when the organization doubled its budget dedicated to hosting more campus events and enabling student clubs to do the same. “This decision was centered around how we can improve the student experience, and this is the most front-facing area of what we do. This is what students will be the most interested in, and this is how we'll create the biggest sense of community for all.” says Popovic.

“This was one of the biggest reasons why we looked to Bounce as a considerable product. It’s in line with all the goals that we’re striving for as an organization.” says Popovic, “Students don't like going to activities and events alone, and I can understand that. It's a matter of let's go with a group of friends, and let's go find more people to go, and I think that's something that Bounce really enables our student community to do."

Jovan Popovic (Middle-Right), president of the MSU, alongside Bounce Campus Ambassadors at McMaster University.

The MSU plans to integrate and leverage Bounce throughout the McMaster campus in several key ways:

• Increased Student Engagement: Bounce’s marketing tools will enable the MSU to improve attendance at campus events by reaching students in the right channel, with the right context. Bounce’s marketing tools include unlimited free SMS blasts directly to students, and Bounce’s social notifications which alert students when a friend buys a ticket, encouraging them to attend events with a group of friends.

• Streamlining Event Management: With Bounce’s user-friendly event hosting tools, the MSU and its constituent organizations will be able to host more campus events easily, allowing students to connect more often and build a strong campus community.

• Enhanced Campus Communication: Using Bounce’s extensive communication tools, the MSU will be able to reach and communicate with students directly. These tools include features like a campus-wide announcement feed, student and club group chats, and a McMaster-specific events feed to improve student awareness of services and events offered by the student union.

• Comprehensive School Analytics: Bounce’s deep campus analytics will allow the MSU to have a well-defined measurement of how student engagement is changing over time. This will make future budget approvals and performance reviews significantly easier, as it will be accompanied by strong campus data.

Perhaps the biggest benefit is that all of this will live in one platform, both for the MSU and the student body at large. "Students are being overwhelmed by everything that's being offered on campuses, not knowing where to go, where to look.” says Popovic, “That’s one of the biggest focuses here; putting everything in one spot. Everything that the MSU does is going to be on Bounce. It's going to be easily accessible, it's going to be easy to attend, and students are going to be able to form that sense of community within one singular app."

Jovan Popovic, President of the MSU, holds up the MSU flag alongside the Maroons, a unique MSU service that helps students learn more about the MSU.

The MSU is clear about its intentions to invest in student engagement and catapult the campus above pre-pandemic levels of engagement, and Popovic acknowledges how widespread this challenge is across Canadian schools: “Student engagement has been a problem across campuses throughout the country. The pandemic really hurt student unions. When students don't feel our physical presence and they're not able to interact in person with our events, with our services, it's hard for them to know what we do, what we offer, and the impact we hold on the student life. And that's why this is so critical."

Sean Monteiro, CEO of Bounce, echoed this sentiment: “This is not a problem specific to Canada. Schools everywhere around the world are having to rethink how they engage their students and are looking for solutions like Bounce to both rebuild and enhance campus life. We’re incredibly proud to be partnering and working so closely with the MSU to help tackle this at McMaster University.”

Over the past year, Bounce has skyrocketed into one of the industry-leading solutions in North America. Bounce’s operations now stretch from the Canadian east coast to the American west coast with partners like the UCLA Campus Events Commission.

To learn more about Bounce’s innovative community and events hosting platform, visit www.bouncelife.com.

About Bounce: Bounce is changing the way organizations manage and communicate with their audience, host local events, and expand their reach. Based out of Toronto, Ontario, Bounce delivers an all-in-one community building platform to university administrations, campus organizations, and event planners across North America. Hundreds of thousands of users discover events, share moments with friends, and participate in their local communities through the Bounce ecosystem each month.

About McMaster Students Union: The McMaster Students Union (MSU) represents full-time undergraduate students at McMaster University and is. The MSU is dedicated to enhancing student life through advocacy, services, and events that foster a vibrant and inclusive campus community.