Microsoft 365 in Education – Built for Productivity, Security and Manageability
Educators face unique challenges accommodating the myriad of devices used by students and staff while also ensuring adequate protection from data loss, viruses and other malicious attacks. Microsoft 365 offers educational institutions a way to respond to these challenges while giving students and staff the tools they need to be more productive – without breaking their tight budgets.
Microsoft 365 is a unified IT solution, built to give educators the productivity power of Office 365 with the device management and security solutions of Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security. Microsoft 365 gives you the tools you need to keep up with the growing needs of students in today’s mobile-first, cloud-first world.
Microsoft 365 Education subscriptions come with Minecraft Education Edition plus Server and CAL benefits. There are two Microsoft 365 Education offerings, where you can add the security and device management features of Windows 10 Education and Enterprise Mobility + Security to the productivity and collaboration tools you enjoy as part of an Office 365 A3 or Office 365 A5 Subscription.
Over and above the technical challenges met by M365 Education, the plans also provide a range of benefits for the organisation, its staff and its students:
Unlock creativity in each student
- Spark creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving with immersive and engaging apps.
- Enhance independence for students of all abilities with intelligent tools.
- Bring ideas to life in 3D and data visualization tools.
Promote teamwork
- Collaborate and save educators time with a single hub for classes and teams.
- Easily connect with others and co-author in real time.
- Meet the needs of individual students with a universal toolkit to connect, share and communicate in class and out.
Provide a simple and safe experience
- Manage users, data, and devices with a single dashboard.
- Protect identity, apps, data, and devices with intelligent security enhanced by machine learning.
- Manage data archiving, governance, and discovery.
There is also a fundamental change to counting staff. FTEs are no longer counted/taken into consideration. The number of hours a person works is no longer taken into consideration. The new licensing measurement for the M365 plans are Education Qualified Users (EQUs).
An Education Qualified User is:
Education Qualified User means an employee or contractor (except Students) who accesses or uses an Education Platform Product for the benefit of the Institution
Education Platform Product = Office 365 Pro Plus/A3/A5 and/or Windows A3/A5 and/or EM&S E3/E5 or M365 A3/A5
Components of Office 365 A3/A5 or EM&S E3/E5 are not Education Platform Products (except Office 365 Pro Plus)
What is the definition of ‘Qualified Device’ in the agreement?
A ‘Qualified Device’ is defined as:
“Any device that is used by or for the benefit of the organisation or by or for the benefit of students enrolled in the organisation and is:
- A personal desktop computer, portable computer, workstation or similar device capable of running Windows Pro locally (in a physical or virtual operating system environment)
OR
- A device used to access a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)”
What about customers with part-time or full-time employees who don’t use a computer every day and/or only use it for short tasks like sharing files or checking email; do they have to be covered as a full user now?
These users who do not qualify as Education Qualified Users (EQUs) may utilise a £0 SKU that provides access to Office 365 A1, which includes Office Online (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote), OneDrive storage, Yammer, and SharePoint sites, plus additional classroom tools. These users can also use Outlook Web Access to check email from any device with internet access:
