Frequently asked questions

They serve different needs: Microsoft 365 productivity work, teaching and learning, citation-oriented evidence work, and structured skills development. The strategy is governance-first and multi-platform by design.

No. Access varies by role, approved purpose, coverage position, funding and available capacity.

Choose based on the task, the information involved, your course or professional rules, integration needs and your approved access route. See the Choose a service page.

Yes. Requirements beyond the central position can be arranged through Faculty, Department, unit, programme, project or research funding, subject to the applicable approval and verification process.

Use the approved Service Desk route for access, application, training and technical questions. Contact your unit coordinator for your unit's arrangement, and your course teacher for course permission and assessment questions.

Copilot Premium is assigned automatically to eligible Teaching Staff, Non-Teaching Terms A/HA staff with a current appointment, and University Management. Eligible recipients receive advance notification before assignment.

Respond using the route given in your notification within three calendar days. If we do not receive your opt-out response within three calendar days, a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence will be automatically assigned to your University account.

Assignment occurs three calendar days after the response deadline. The notification is targeted for the week commencing 21 September 2026, and the sequence is subject to endorsement, operational readiness, weekends and public holidays.

A licence normally remains assigned until 30 June of the annual cycle. Other transfer, withdrawal or reassignment arrangements are discussed case by case with justification.

There is no automatic inactivity-based withdrawal rule for Copilot. Any change is handled case by case with justification.

No. Onboarding materials are provided for reference and participation is optional, though we strongly advise it for this first rollout.

Eligible Part-Time Teaching Staff are centrally supported where licences are available, through individual application or Faculty, Department or unit nomination. Eligibility is verified against HRO data.

Central support is available for part of the Non-Teaching Terms B population under the applicable allocation. Your Faculty, Department or unit advises how that allocation is arranged, and additional coverage requires own funding. Please contact your unit coordinator.

Individual applications may be allowed according to the arrangement your Faculty, Department or unit selects. Your coordinator can tell you whether that route is open in your unit.

Eligibility is determined according to the approved HRO job-function classification, using HRO data. Regular extraction and updating will support Q4 2026 operation, and an HRO interface is targeted from Q1 2027 for automatic assignment and application eligibility verification.

No. Gemini access follows an individual application, a unit nomination, a batch activation or a course and cohort request.

Teaching staff are 100% centrally supported. Apply individually, with eligibility verified against HRO data, or be nominated or batch-activated by your Faculty, Department or unit.

Central support is available for part of the Non-Teaching Terms A/HA population. Apply individually with Faculty, Department or unit coordination. Applications after the central allocation is reached follow the arrangement your unit advises, and additional coverage may use unit own funding.

Gemini for Non-Teaching Terms B is arranged through Faculty, Department or unit own funding. Your unit may choose individual application, nomination, batch activation, full coverage or a combination.

Current undergraduate, RPG and UGC-funded postgraduate students may apply individually, provided they do not already have access through a teacher, course or programme. ITSC verifies eligibility through the existing student records interface and approves directly.

No. Where a service is required for a class or an assessed activity, the teacher, course or programme should submit a cohort request so that the whole cohort has consistent access.

A University-wide central funding envelope applies to the undergraduate population, and each Faculty, Department or Programme may request batch activation within its applicable allocation. Selection within that allocation is decided by the responsible unit, and additional activation requires unit funding.

Current planning values for own-funded coverage are provided in the access-restricted funding reference. Contact your unit coordinator or the approved support route for access. Values remain subject to confirmation and must not be treated as an approved charge.

No. Coverage within a central position is not recharged. The applicable own-funded arrangement is provided separately through the access-restricted funding reference.

Access is arranged through Faculty, Department or Programme own funding, with the applicable funding approval followed by ITSC verification.

Split funding, where central funding covers eligible UGC-funded students and your unit funds the self-financed students; or whole-cohort activation, where your unit funds the balance.

Normally annual until 30 June. Monthly pro-rata access may be arranged case by case. The working assumption for a centrally supported application approved partway through the year is access until the next 30 June, with justified exceptions allowed.

Centrally funded, application-based access may be suspended for inactivity. The inactivity threshold will be defined only after initial usage and reporting validation, and it will be published with the associated notice and exception arrangements before it is applied. No threshold applies at present.

A post-assignment training requirement applies only to students who receive Gemini through individual application. It is completed after access is assigned. The content, deadline, evidence and grace period are being finalised and will be announced. Students activated as part of a cohort are not subject to this individual-application requirement.

Not yet. Perplexity is at the demand-collection and negotiation stage. Units can indicate demand through the consolidated Enterprise AI survey.

Indicative ceilings are calculated from the Faculty, Department or unit's overall Terms A figure and rounded down. No job-function filtering is applied. They are ceilings for demand collection, not allocations. Refer to the restricted planning reference for the current values.

Where the Max calculation is zero or impractical, the corresponding funding may be considered for an organisation-level pool of Perplexity Computer credits.

Current commercial planning information is maintained in the access-restricted funding reference and remains subject to negotiation and approval.

No. They are two distinct consumption-based capabilities being compared through demand collection. They are not interchangeable, and neither is confirmed for deployment.

Unused or reallocated capacity within the RAC strategic funding envelope may support other institutionally governed AI tools, and these have been named as possible candidates. Every candidate requires applicable security, privacy, compliance, technical, commercial, procurement and governance review. Survey responses are discovery inputs, not commitments.

Through approved scope, named budget ownership, approval thresholds, alerts and limits, regular reporting, periodic review of high-consumption use cases, and practical user guidance on lighter versus compute-heavy workflows.

No. Completing a course, training activity or other learning opportunity does not by itself guarantee or automatically unlock a licence, API tokens, credits or other consumption-based resources. A separately announced opportunity may consider specified completed learning when assessing eligibility or sponsored access. Its eligibility, verification, availability, capacity, funding and approval conditions will be stated in that opportunity's details. There is no general learning-hour requirement or learning-based access route.

Undergraduate, RPG, UGC-funded postgraduate and self-financed postgraduate students, by application. Access normally runs until 30 June.

Staff access is still to be confirmed, pending LILI Sub-Group discussion and confirmation of which unit will cover it. We will announce the position when it is confirmed.

First come, first served. When places are fully allocated a waiting list operates, and released places are reassigned in application order.

We send encouragement, reminders and notice, and a grace period applies. After that the place may be withdrawn and reassigned so that another student can use it.

No. Relevant continued non-fulfilment may be reported to your Faculty, Department or Programme for programme administration only. It is not an academic, disciplinary or performance assessment.

It is called the Google Career Certificate Programme. It is open by application to undergraduate, RPG and UGC-funded postgraduate students, first come first served. Final programme allocation and external-provider terms remain subject to confirmation.

No. API Portal tokens are not included automatically with an Enterprise AI licence. Access is by application and subject to eligibility, use-case review, funding or quota, responsible-use conditions, security requirements and consumption controls.

No. Completing a course or training activity does not guarantee API tokens or quota.

No. API Portal tokens, Copilot Cowork with Copilot Credits, and Perplexity Computer are separately governed capabilities with separate approval, funding, reporting and review. Quota approved for one is not transferable to another.

Only information you are authorised to use, and applicable privacy, security, classification, records and service rules continue to apply. Seek guidance for unclear cases through the approved consultation route.

Assignment, activation, adoption and consumption may be monitored for support, programme improvement and resource stewardship, subject to approved purpose, access, retention and transparency arrangements.

No. Adoption and usage reporting is used for programme improvement and resource stewardship. It is not used for employee or student performance assessment, and there is no ranking by prompts, tokens or consumption.

Retention periods are being confirmed with the responsible privacy owner and will be stated in the published privacy notice before any form is opened.