Microsoft Academic Initiative Andrew Sithers

Academic Initiative in a Single Slide Widening Access Low cost access to our.NET development tools and platform products for use on all teaching, lab and student machines through a department-wide subscription to the MSDN Academic Alliance Supporting Teaching Help and guidance with innovative curriculum development, teaching and research in conjunction with others in the community Recognising Talent Resources and recognition for students working both in and out of class to help and encourage them to develop innovative solutions to real world problems with software “We help institutions, faculty and students to innovate in the learning and teaching of software development”

Theory

Program Motivations Nearly 30,000 computer science students graduate every year Many have had little exposure to Microsoft technologies However, huge technology presence in the workplace Microsoft has a responsibility to support and work with academia

What is the Academic Initiative? A long-term commitment of people, resources and funding World-wide virtual team of over 200 people made up of Microsoft Research University Relations Education Solutions Group Academic Group in the Developer and Platform division

Microsoft Interfaces with Academia Developer / Platform Group Developer / Platform Group Microsoft Research ERO Microsoft Research ERO Education / Skills Group Education / Skills Group Depth and blue-sky research IP Generation Funding Opportunities Developer Education Introduce new technology to marketplace Academic Team Institution Infrastructure Primary -> Continuing Education Skills - MS Academy

Focus Increase technology awareness, availability and deployment Support research and curriculum development Work with thought-leaders and influencers Foster the growth of faculty and student communities

Practice

Driving Availability Shared Source Initiative For example Rotor Windows CE 5.0 Iron Python Windows Source Bluetooth API wrapper Sharing Research Outputs For example Generics / Gyro F# Cω ConferenceXP MSDN Academic Alliance…

Driving Availability MSDN Academic Alliance Subscription based access to development tools Licensed per department, including student home machines Includes: Operating Systems, SDKs, DDKs Visual Studio.NET AE Server Platforms, e.g. Windows, SQL Server, Exchange Server, Commerce Server, BizTalk Server, Host Integration Server, Application Center... Latest updates and Betas MSDN Library Dev tools for WindowsCE/PocketPC Technical Support incidents Visio Regular Updates

Working with Students Technical Roadshow Reward Excellence Student partner programme Imagine cup Student excellence awards Community theSpoke Product Availability Student options Careers Internships Graduate scheme PhD scholarship programme

Working with Faculty Curriculum support Over 100 new modules developed or underway at universities around the country Industrial advisory board participation Request For Proposals (RFP) Rotor, Assignment Manager, Embedded, Curriculum Teaching and research labs Created at Strathclyde, Hull, Lancaster, Westminster and many more Prizes, bursaries, competitions and awards Technical support and assistance

Focus for AY Broaden participation Workshops to involve more staff in developing innovative teaching in key areas Funding for curriculum development Inclusive technical events – technical depth and breadth Student focus Imagine Cup – easier to enter and more rewarding Student Excellence – more rewarding Code Camps Make MSDN AA easier to deploy Need to address Student Projects and Industrial Placement deficits

References Microsoft Research Downloads Microsoft Shared Source Initiative Microsoft Academic Alliance

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