What Membership Offers

The valuable benefits:

• Increase students’ employability with relevant technology courses that help them to get jobs after graduation.
• Open paths for educators and staff members to polish their own professional development.
• Gain access to resources that will help you save time and money.

There are 2 membership levels that this program offers: Essential and Advanced. The Essential membership focuses on applications and Microsoft Dynamics. The Advanced membership provides fuller curriculum which includes technical training.

Essential membership benefits

The Essential members are entitled to the following:

• Unlimited access to E-Learning portfolio courses focused on the Microsoft Office applications plus Windows desktop courses
• The ability to administer content and manage your students’ progress with the online Instructor Learning Management System
• Essential computer skills training with Microsoft Digital Literacy
• Up to 50 lab licenses for Microsoft Office Professional Academic 2010
• One complimentary enrollment in the Microsoft Certified Trainer program for a qualified educator at your institution and a 25 percent discount on enrollments for any additional instructors
• A 60 percent discount on the Full E-Reference Library, which is a collection of E-Reference Libraries for Microsoft Press
• Academic pricing on Microsoft Official Academic Courses (MOAC)
• Academic pricing on Microsoft Certification exams
• Educator resources such as downloadable and customizable lesson plans to help you save class preparation time, personalized course completion certificates, and a free tool that enables you to create your own online courses
• Marketing resources to help you promote your IT Academy, such as inclusion in the IT Academy locator tool plus a welcome kit, posters, email templates, flyers, brochures, and much more!

Advanced membership benefits

The Advanced membership is for institutions that teach IT professional and developer courses for Microsoft Certification. The members are entitled to:

• All the benefits listed for the Essential membership
• Unlimited access to E-Learning portfolio courses focused on Windows Server, Windows Client, SQL Server, Visual Studio, and many other Microsoft technologies Up to 100 lab licenses for Windows Vista, Windows 7, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 x64, Microsoft Office Professional 2007, or Microsoft Office Professional Academic 2010
• Five complimentary annual subscriptions to the Full E-Reference Library, which is a collection of E-Reference Libraries for Microsoft Press and a 60 percent discount for additional subscriptions
• One complimentary subscription to MSDN Academic Alliance (MSDN AA)
• One complimentary, Not for Resale (NFR) version of Microsoft TechNet Subscription Professional
• Academic pricing on Microsoft Official Courseware (MOC)

Increase Student Employability

Join the IT Academy Program to engage students with innovative courses and learning tools and offer them the technical courses that will prepare them for IT careers after graduation. IT is one industry that continues to thrive despite the current economic climate; there is a global need for people highly skilled in Microsoft technologies.

Our world-class Microsoft IT Academy curriculum will help you offer the hands-on skills and experience that today’s graduates need to succeed in technology careers. The IT Academy program enables classroom and online learning, hands-on labs, and access to hundreds of courses, books, cutting-edge resources, and collaboration tools.

Encourage your students to earn a Microsoft Certification after completing your course to give them the added advantage of entering the IT workforce with proven technical skills and an internationally-recognized Microsoft Certification.

Microsoft Certification is one of the most demanding and respected endorsements in the industry, stressing both technical knowledge and real-world experience. Microsoft has certified more than three million professionals worldwide.
By earning a Microsoft Certification, your students will:

• Validate the technical knowledge and skills they learned at your IT Academy
• Gain a competitive edge in the job market
• Demonstrate their commitment to the IT profession
• Enable a career development path for ongoing advancement of Microsoft technology skills

Enhanced Professional Development

Educators and other staff members have the opportunity to improve their own knowledge base with complimentary resources and online courses, plus discounted software and certifications.

• Learn essential computer skills training with Microsoft Digital Literacy


• Evaluate and familiarize yourself with Microsoft products and technologies through MSDN Academic Alliance and TechNet subscriptions that offer access to Microsoft platform, server, and developer/designer products plus software, knowledge base articles, service packs, how-to articles, security updates, resource kits, tools, and utilities


• Become a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) to thrive as both a technologist and an educator. Use the MCT program to build, maintain, and prove your expertise on Microsoft products and technologies, as well as prepare for, teach, and support learning solutions for your students


• Take courses and get certified to improve your own knowledge base and increase career success with the same discounts offered to students


• Learn how to create your own E-Learning courses to integrate into your classes with the Microsoft Learning Content Development System (LCDS)

Save Time and Money

As an IT Academy Program member, you are entitled to a variety of complimentary resources that ca.n help you save time.

• Customizable lesson plans
• Tool to create online courses
• Course completion certificates
• Marketing resources to promote your IT Academy
• Digital Literacy course
• Lab licenses
• MSDN Academic Alliance (MSDN AA) subscription
• TechNet subscription

As an IT Academy member, you are also entitled to academic pricing on a variety of materials that help you teach and get certified.

• Academic pricing on Microsoft Official Curriculum
• Academic pricing on Microsoft Official Academic Courseware
• Academic pricing on Microsoft Technical Certification exams
• Discounts on E-Reference Library subscriptions from Microsoft Press
• Discounts on Microsoft Certified Trainer memberships