Events

MINSK, 8 November (BelTA) – The Belarusian Education Ministry and Microsoft Belarus have signed a memorandum of cooperation, BelTA has learned. The document was signed by Belarusian Education Minister Mikhail Zhuravkov and Microsoft Belarus CEO Anton Myakishev.

The document represents a universal agreement on subscriptions as part of the Enrollment for Education Solutions licensing program. In line with the agreement Belarusian preschool educational institutions, secondary schools, vocational schools, universities and the government agencies in charge of regulating educational institutions will get access to the necessary services, programs, and products that enable digital workflow and allow connecting to the Digital School project.

Microsoft Belarus CEO Anton Myakishev noted that the agreement will allow Belarusian education system institutions to enjoy all the benefits of using licensed Microsoft software products.

Every employee of the educational institution that takes advantage of the agreement will be able to install an Office 365 software suite on five mobile and five stationary devices. Students and their parents will be able to install Microsoft software products on their home computers, smartphones, and tablets that use any kind of an operating system.

The Belarusian Education Minister noted that the document continues cooperation with Microsoft towards creating a Digital School and towards a digital education ministry on the whole. In line with the agreement the new system of discounts will be available not only to secondary schools, vocational schools, and universities but also to other institutions that make up the Belarusian education system.

Payments will be collected on an annual basis. Higher education institutions will be granted a 45% discount while secondary and vocational schools will be granted a 70% discount. The discount on some software products will reach as much as 95% of the standard market price.

According to the Education Minister, educational institutions will be free to decide whether they need to take advantage of the agreement or not and to what extent they are to take advantage of the new licensing scheme.

Participants of the agreement signing ceremony noted that the world is going through a digital transformation phase. Absolutely every business and every economy are getting transformed, with information technologies at the heart of this transformation. It is important to provide quality human resources to the Belarusian economy in order to keep this economy competitive. Modern school students and university students should be granted the right to get quality education using state-of-the-art solutions. This is why Microsoft invests heavily in the education system.