Terms of use: Microsoft 365 for students

 

Microsoft 365All UCT students have access to Microsoft 365 as part of Microsoft’s Student Advantage Program. You have access to Microsoft 365 at no cost and will be able to download and install the software on up to five devices including Windows and Mac computers and Windows, Android and Apple mobile devices. The software has the same features and functions as other versions of Office 2016.

Once you leave UCT, all documents that you created using the Microsoft Office suite need to be moved to another location. You will need to purchase a copy of the Microsoft Office suite to continue editing your Microsoft 365 files.

Register and download the software

In order to download the software onto your laptop:

  1. Go to https://outlook.com/myuct.ac.za
  2. Log on using your student email address (studentnumber@myuct.ac.za) and password.
  3. Click the App launcher icon in the top left corner > Microsoft 365.
  4. On the Microsoft 365 page click Install Office > Microsoft 365 apps.

Activate an installation

To activate an installation of Office, please follow these instructions.

Deactivate an installation

If you’ve already installed Microsoft 365 on five devices and you want to install the software on a sixth computer, you will need to first deactivate an installation on one of your current computers.

  1. Go to https://outlook.com/myuct.ac.za
  2. Log on using your student email address (studentnumber@myuct.ac.za) and password.
  3. Click the App launcher icon in the top left corner > Microsoft 365.
  4. On the Office 365 page click Install Office > Other install options.
  5. Under the Office apps & devices section click View apps & devices.
  6. Under Office click the arrow v next to Devices.
    • A list of the devices you have installed the software on will appear.
  7. Click Deactivate next to the computer you want to deactivate.

 

Microsoft AI offerings

Microsoft CoPilot

Formerly known as Bing Chat AI, Microsoft CoPilot is a basic AI product available to everyone with a Microsoft ID.

This free offering is similar to ChatGPT in that it’s a large language model (LLM) that includes functionality such as GPT4 and Dall-E image generation. It also allows up to 30 messages per chat session and 300 messages per day.

UCT’s Campus agreement gives Microsoft A3 licence holders (Education Qualified Users) access to Microsoft CoPilot for Enterprise at no additional cost. This version functions identically to Microsoft CoPilot, but includes some data protections such as not saving or storing any data or information provided by the user, and not using any interactions for the purpose of training the CoPilot LLM.


Microsoft CoPilot Pro

While the UCT Microsoft Campus agreement doesn’t currently offer any additional paid plans, personal Microsoft ID accounts can subscribe to Microsoft CoPilot Pro at $20.00 USD per month. This product gives access to 

  • faster response times, especially during peak times
  • more messages per conversation per day
  • additional image tools and generating capabilities

Microsoft CoPilot Pro also has some basic Microsoft Office AI capabilities. This does, however, require a subscription to a personal or family Microsoft 365 product as well as CoPilot Pro.

IMPORTANT: Microsoft CoPilot Pro cannot be used or subscribed to using a UCT account. It is only available to personal accounts.

 

Microsoft 365 CoPilot

Microsoft 365 CoPilot is vastly different to CoPilot Pro. While it provides the same LLM and Dall-E product capabilities, it also includes strong integration with the Microsoft 365 product suite, which Microsoft calls the Microsoft 365 Graph.

Microsoft 365 CoPilot’s AI accesses your Office files, email and other Microsoft Graph data and learns about your work to provide a more personal experience. It can

  • create documents
  • analyse reports and documents
  • assist with spreadsheet creation and formulas
  • produce PowerPoint presentations from other document types

It’s a fully integrated and complete AI product for Microsoft Office.

Associated costs

This is available at an additional cost of ± $360 USD per user per year of enterprise and business customers. This offering is now available to Microsoft Education customers, however, it is not yet available at UCT.