I have been working with North American universities since joining Microsoft almost 5 years ago.

The school year is winding down for most colleges, so I'd like to talk about ways that Microsoft is helping university students in North America.

Azure for Students

This offering provides $100 Azure cloud computing credit free to any student. It is a good opportunity to learn about cloud computing and test the services in Azure. You can sign up with an EDU email address at http://aka.ms/Azure4Students. No credit card is required.

  • $100 credit for 1 year
  • Access to all of Azure
  • No credit card required

Microsoft Student Partner

Microsoft Student Partners (or MSPs) serve as Microsoft advocates on campus, providing workshops and information about Microsoft technology. In exchange, they receive education from Microsoft and (sometimes) a few prizes. It is a good way to increase the networking, education, and employability of a student. You can learn more at https://imagine.microsoft.com/msp

Student Ambassador

This program is similar to the MSP program, but it is run by the Microsoft Recruiting organization.

Student Hackathons

Student hackathons have become very popular the last few years. At a hackathon, students get together on campus and build hardware and software projects in teams. Many hackathons offer prizes for the best projects and students from other universities are often welcome. Microsoft has sponsored a great many hackathons over the years, offering money, prizes, Azure credits, hardware, and mentors to answer student questions. I have personally been involved in dozens of hackathons the last 3 years.

Imagine Cup

Imagine Cup is an international competition for teams of students who build amazing projects and want to turn them into a business. The top teams in each participating country are invited to the national finals for a chance to pitch their projects to a panel of judges, who select a few teams to advance to the International Finals. The top prize for this competition is $100,000 US and a mentoring session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. You can learn more about Imagine Cup at https://imagine.microsoft.com/Compete

DataFests

Recently, I have been involved in a few DataFests. A DataFest is a competition on campus in which students are provided a set of data they have not yet seen; and asked to provide insights into the data. Students are free to use any tools they want and many present summaries, visualizations, and predictive analyses about the data. For the 3 DataFests in which I was involved (two at the University of Toronto and one at Duke University), Microsoft provided funds for food, free Azure credits, a workshop to show how to use MS's data science tools, and mentors to answer student questions.

Internships

Microsoft offers opportunities for university students to intern with the company. Most take place in Redmond in the summer. This is a great chance to work with a product team, learn new skills, and enhance your resume. These internships are very competitive, so students are encouraged to apply early in the school year. You can learn more and apply for internships at https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/students-and-graduates

Academic CSE Team

This is the team for which I have been working this past year. We have coordinated and executed many of Microsoft's programs around university education. My responsibilities have included talking with professors, TAs, and students about how to incorporate Azure into their classes, meeting with MSP, and mentoring at hackathons and DataFests.

And So...

Microsoft is committed to helping students learn about software and computer science. The above list is some of the opportunities for students provided by Microsoft. Microsoft’s new fiscal year begins in a few weeks and there is not guarantee these programs will remain the same next year. In fact it’s likely there will be some changes.I don't know what programs will be offered going forward, but I expect a continuing strong commitment from my employer.