Changes to Microsoft Licensing for Education may cost universities more

Manage and optimise the Education Qualified User (EQU) model in Microsoft 365 Education plans for real cost savings.

Transforming the student experience is a key aspiration for many universities: An all-encompassing digital vision with wide-ranging ideas, solutions and initiatives to provide innovative access to learning resources for students and staff as well as modern working and living environments.

Transformation in higher education, essentially, is no different to transformation in business in that, invariably, it will end up at the door of the IT department. IT and Operations decision makers must choose where to allocate budget and resource for the highest priority projects, and the more budget that is available, the more activities can be delivered. With the student experience continuously improving, the university in question can lead the way in enhancing the student experience.

Changes to Microsoft 365 Education Plans

Any challenges to university IT budgets are taken seriously, mitigating price rises where possible. One such challenge is a change to the way Microsoft class users in their Campus Agreement (now known as ‘EES’ – Enrolment for Education Solutions). This is already presenting universities with potentially significant costs.

With the move to Microsoft 365 Education plans, education customers are being asked to switch from the Full Time Employee (FTE) based counting model, which has been used for years, to the new Education Qualified User (EQU) model. This represents a huge shift for further and higher education organisations and could see the need for colleges and universities to procure thousands more paid for Microsoft licences.

What is an Education Qualified User?

The Microsoft definition of an Education Qualified User (EQU) is as follows:

“Education Qualified User” means an employee or contractor (except Students) who access or uses an Education Platform Product for the benefit of the Institution.

And as a reminder, an Education Platform Product entails:

Office 365 Pro Plus/A3/A5 and/or Windows A3/A5 and/or EM&S E3/35 or M365 A3/A5. Components of 0365 A3/A5 or EM&S E3/E5 are not Education Platform Products (except O365 Pro Plus)