Central TAFE in Western Australia has decided to go with Microsoft's free hosted email system Live@edu for its 15,000 students. Its experience with the email will determine whether ten other Western Australian TAFEs will also decide to go with the system.
Central TAFE joined up with ten other TAFE colleges in Western Australia and put out an expression of interest September last year for a hosted email service provider. Microsoft was chosen from that tender process last month.
Until now, there has been no student email service in place for Central TAFE students. Central TAFE is currently trialling Live@edu with around 500 students, picked from classes by lecturers who have offered to be a part of the pilot. When the pilot is finished, all 15,000 students will receive Live@edu mail addresses.
After the pilot, each of the other TAFEs will decide if they want to use the system. If all ten of the TAFEs decide to go with the system, the Microsoft hosted mail would be rolled out to 120,000 students across the state.
"We're thrilled about the growing momentum behind our Live@edu student email solution and it's exciting to see more and more educational institutions in Australia discovering its benefits,' Microsoft Australia education director Neil Jackson said in a statement.
The other hosted email alternative other universities have taken has been Google's Gmail, which Macquarie University, the University of Adelaide the NSW Department of Education and Training and the University of Auckland chose.
The University of Queensland, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, Australian Catholic University, Victoria University and Queensland University of Technology have all chosen Microsoft's version.
