Upcoming changes to the way we make Microsoft Office available to students

There are a number of upcoming changes to the way we make Microsoft Office available to students as part of a worldwide program to simplify and broaden the availability of our academic offerings. These changes will enable more students to buy Office at a significant discount from the product available to other consumers. Today, 95% of higher-education students use Office, while only 23% are aware of Office student discounts. With the launch of Office University, we are expanding the number of partners who will be eligible to sell this product, including many popular retailers.

The details of the current changes are:

• Office University 2010 and Office for Mac University 2011 were released on 1 February 2012. Office University 2010 and Office for Mac University 2011 offers university and college students great value for the same applications, services and support as Office Professional 2010 and Office for Mac Home & Business 2011. With the release of these products, we are dramatically increasing the number of partners able to assort the product.
• Office Home & Student 2010 is the current offering for school students and parents wishing to purchase Microsoft Office for their studies and home needs. This product is available from a wide range of retail and online partners.
• Office Professional Plus 2010 and Office for Mac 2011 under Student Select will no longer be available for purchase through this program starting 1 April 2012. This is the current program used by Software for Students and other partners currently who specialise in this market.
• Office offerings for students will remain, such as those available under Student Option for EES and Campus & School Agreement. A number of enhancements have already been introduced to make it more attractive for institutions to license their students under their institutional agreement, including free ESD and volume discounts.

Microsoft has been working with our existing partners in the UK to help them prepare for these changes, so that they can in turn communicate with their customers –both Universities and the students themselves – about how they can continue to get discounted Office software packages.