In the Cloud, Students Prepare for the New World of Business

Whether a university student is in Ireland, stateside or elsewhere, students need to prepare wisely to appeal to employers. People studying in business colleges and universities are gearing up to work in a global marketplace, where companies work cross-culturally, across time zones. Educators at National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway and the University of Massachusetts (UMASS) Amherst found that cloud technology can make a strong impact in helping to prepare students for today’s business world. Not only does Office 365 provide students skills to help them to be productive and marketable in the workplace, it provides them with new confidence in collaborating online. Watch the video to learn more.

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So, how do business students benefit?
In the video, I’m particularly excited about what UMASS student, Sarah Langlais, has to say.

“I feel more prepared now after being in the class given that I have not done much international travel. Having this, I feel, has kind of brought me up to par with some of the other students. They might know another language but I feel like I understand the technology now. I have that in my toolkit.”

Murray Scott, Lecturer in business information systems at NUI talks about his experience. 

“Having used a range of virtual conferencing technologies over the years, Microsoft Office 365 has been, by far, the easiest experience I've had. Office 365 makes communication between students who are geographically distributed very, very easy. And, indeed, I couldn't imagine running a course without it.”

NUI student, Bryan Lalor, keys into the blend of skills and knowledge needed in our global marketplace. 

“Working with our peers in America has certainly opened my eyes to new experiences. We actually develop skills-- teamwork that's outside of-- sometimes outside the basic business and IT skills that we've gained here in NUI Galway.”

Gino Sorcinelli, Faculty Member of the Commonwealth Honors College at UMASS concurs.

“They understand teamwork. They understand virtual teamwork. They understand communications better because of the use of Lync. They understand portal in the cloud because of SharePoint Online… My experience shows that Office 365 for education helps my students prepare for what they're going to encounter when they graduate and they enter the world of business.“

Students must be creators.
As Microsoft’s Vice President of Worldwide Education, Anthony Salcito highlights in Office 365 for education – a game changer for teaching and learning: “Students must be more than consumers. They must be creators.” They must bring fresh, new ideas to their work as students, and do so later in the workplace. Not only are people studying business at NUI Galway and UMASS Amherst working in creative, virtual teams with Office 365, now that the service is available, more students and schools can benefit from the teamwork and innovation that Office 365 enables. I am happy to learn that after evaluating cloud services from Microsoft and from Google, the University of Dundee selected Office 365 over Google Apps for its students and staff, including for its distance learners!