Student VPN & Gmail

A new UCD student email account is created for you as soon as you become a UCD student; you get to keep this account for life. Your UCD email is normally the main method by which your UCD lecturers will contact you so it's important that you learn how to use it.  Follow these steps

• Before trying to access your UCD email account, you'll need to install the student VPN-go (opens in a new window)hereand follow the instructions to install the software on your device
• Ensure you use stugate.ucd.ie as the server
• Select the STUGATE group when prompted
• Login with your UCD Connect username and password

Once you have the VPN installed and active, you can access your student email account. Just go to UCD Connectand select (opens in a new window)Gmail for students. You can also access your email account by going directly to (opens in a new window)Gmail

A few things to note to make your experience better

• Consider enabling mail forwarding-this will allow you to have your UCD email messages sent to a different account, ideally one which does not require a VPN. You can find instructions  (opens in a new window)here
• The UCD VPN provides access to UCD services only-Gmail, Google Drive, Calendar & SISweb-so if you want to do anything else on the internet you'll need to turn off the student VPN first
• The VPN is not always reliable, so please ensure that you have added a second personal email account in SISweb-this makes it possible for you to receive emails to your personal as well as UCD email account
• Brightspace announcements go to your UCD email so you need to check it regularly
• Native mail clients may offer a better experience-the Apple mail app and other similar clients are worth trying
• Ask your English teachers for some basic email etiquette tips and use them