Free Office 365 Tools for Higher Education Institutions and Students in the Republic of Croatia

The Ministry of Science, Education and Sports (MZOS), the University Computing Centre (Srce), and Microsoft Croatia have announced that students in the Republic of Croatia, as well as all higher education institutions, can use the free Office 365 online software package. Additionally, every professor and student from public higher education institutions and public scientific institutes is entitled to five free installations of Office 365 ProPlus for computers and five for mobile devices (tablets, smartphones). Free access to cloud-based tools that provide numerous functionalities related to collaboration is possible through the use of an electronic identity in the AAI@EduHr system.

The advantages of Office 365 are numerous, and some were showcased during the presentation of functionalities at the Rectorate of the University of Zagreb. An interactive presentation on the possibilities of collaborative work on documents from two remote locations was held, along with a demonstration of the Skype for Business service, where participants can share documents, chat, and present in real-time during audio and video calls. The event featured speeches from Prof. Dr. Vedran Mornar, Minister of Science, Education and Sports, Prof. Dr. Damir Boras, Rector of the University of Zagreb, Ivan Vidaković, Director of Microsoft Croatia, and Dr. Zoran Bekić, Director of the University Computing Centre.

“The Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports are undertaking a series of activities through the implementation of the adopted Strategy aimed at improving education in Croatia to meet the demands of modern society and the economy. Among other things, adopting a modern way of learning and teaching with the help of information and communication technology is essential in the context of raising the quality of education. Modern software programs significantly save time, improve work quality, and enhance the efficiency of the learning process. Therefore, I am extremely pleased that, after introducing the free use of Office 365 in all schools in Croatia for all teachers and educators, we can offer the same service to students and professors. This is an opportunity to use top-notch software tools that not only facilitate learning and the presentation of learned material but also enable collaboration on projects through joint work on documents, information exchange, task management, and mutual agreements. In this way, the Ministry and the Government of the Republic of Croatia, in collaboration with Srce and Microsoft, have made these top-notch tools available to students, professors, teachers, and educators,” stated Prof. Dr. Vedran Mornar, Minister of Science, Education and Sports.

The Office 365 package significantly modernizes the learning process, providing an advantage for every user as they are entitled to store 1 TB of data in the cloud, which can be accessed from any device, at any time, and from anywhere in the world. This also implies the ability to input data from various devices and synchronize those changes, making them available from any device. Additionally, each user’s mailbox has a capacity of 50 GB, and it is possible to send attachments up to 150 MB in size. Besides Office tools (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote), various platforms for communication and collaboration are available, such as SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, including Skype for Business, a service that enables instant messaging, conference calls, video calls, presentations, etc., as well as Yammer, where each institution can create its own social network to enhance collaboration and communication.

The Director of Microsoft Croatia, Ivan Vidaković, emphasized that today, the accelerated transformation of the education system is a necessity. “We live in a world of great and rapid changes, and it is society’s task to break the fear of these changes and to establish continuous learning as a necessity. Every individual is responsible for themselves, but the state must provide the conditions and environment in which acquiring new knowledge and skills will be an incentive for both personal development and societal development. The collaboration between the Ministry, Srce, and Microsoft on the project of making Office 365 tools available to all students is a step towards that goal, and I express my satisfaction that we have the opportunity to contribute to the development of the education system. I believe that many students and professors will recognize the advantages that the Office 365 tool provides in their work and thus acquire the necessary competencies in using one of the most important business tools of today, which are in high demand in the extremely competitive job market.”

Students will not have to pay for version upgrades as all future updates are already included in the service, with all services available at the highest possible level of security and privacy, as evidenced by numerous certifications that Microsoft holds in this area. For students and professors to use Office 365, each institution must first complete registration, and more information about this and the service can be found at www.srce.hr/office365.

The Director of the University Computing Centre, Dr. Zoran Bekić, highlighted: “Today, users of advanced information technologies rightly expect and demand that the use of these technologies be as simple as possible. All members of the academic and educational community in Croatia, over 800,000 of them, successfully use their electronic identities from the AAI@EduHr system to access various services. Therefore, Srce, as the coordinator of AAI@EduHr, has developed software support that enables simple and secure access to applications and services within the Microsoft Office 365 system using electronic identities in the AAI@EduHr system.”

The Director Dr. Bekić particularly emphasized: “Specifically, at a technical level, this software support enables the connection of existing LDAP directories of academic institutions with Azure AD. This ensures system interoperability, allowing all students and other members of the Croatian academic community to use services within the Office 365 system securely, without the need to remember an additional username and password. At Srce, we are pleased that this step, important for our users due to access to Microsoft services, has once again confirmed the role of Srce as an infrastructural institution responsible for enabling the application of new technologies in education and science.”