The collaboration between Howest and Academic Software

With 9,000 students at two campuses in Belgium, Howest University of Applied Sciences is one of Belgium’s top universities, and home to the award-winning Digital Arts and Entertainment Gaming curriculum. When Howest moved to BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), it was looking for a way to offer students all the software, including licences, they needed for their specific curricula in one place. Academic Software provided the all-in-one solution with its easy-to-use self-service licensing and deployment platform.

The challenge

Howest had been piloting its "Laptop Project" since 2004, and extended its BYOD policy to the whole university in 2012. Therefore, Howest wanted to find a way to offer all the software students needed for their curricula on one platform.

Some of the challenges Howest faced were managing the deployment and licensing for all BYO-devices, including the software in the tuition fee, and ensuring all the software is legally licensed and the most up-to-date version.

The solution

In 2017, Howest teamed up with Academic Software with the purpose to create a one-stop-shop platform for student software. This platform allows every student to download the software they need, whether it's a paid title included in their tuition fee or a free, educational option. Through the Howest API the student immediately has the software bundle that is linked to the curricula they have been enrolled in, which also makes it easier for the university to guarantee that every student is using legal software.

Academic Software serves as an easy-to-use self-service licensing and deployment platform.

Results

The collaboration between Howest and Academic Software has been successful in several ways. The platform is closely integrated with Howest's student administration systems, so students can log in and immediately access the software bundles that are linked to their curriculum. This also includes that all the costs are included for the student in their tuition fee.

The university is looking forward to further collaborations with Academic Software to continue to extend these student-oriented services.