Microsoft is turning education into a flagship AI story in early 2026, pairing a new Elevate for Educators program with a generous “free year of AI tools” bundle for college students on Microsoft 365 Premium. Together, these moves aim to put Copilot and education-specific AI in the hands of both teachers and students without adding licensing friction.
Microsoft Elevate for Educators: AI for teachers first
Ahead of Bett UK 2026, Microsoft announced Microsoft Elevate for Educators, a new umbrella program designed to connect educators with global communities, professional learning resources, and AI-powered tools built specifically for classrooms. Microsoft positions the initiative as part of its broader Microsoft Elevate commitment to help schools build skills, expand opportunity, and make sure “everyone benefits from AI.”
At its core, Elevate for Educators wraps together three pillars: community, professional development, and classroom-ready AI features in Microsoft 365 Education. That means K–12 teachers, school leaders, and even ministries of education can plug into a shared ecosystem instead of stitching together training, tools, and recognition on their own.
Communities, credentials, and PD at global scale
Microsoft is turning its educator communities into something closer to a structured advancement track. The refreshed Microsoft Elevate Educators and Microsoft Elevate Schools communities now offer year-round membership, expanded training opportunities, and a progressive achievement system so educators can gain recognition as they build AI skills.
A big hook is free professional development for educators worldwide, delivered through the AI Skills Navigator. Microsoft is promising self‑paced courses, live sessions, and AI-powered simulations in more than 13 languages, plus industry-recognized credentials developed with partners like ISTE and ASCD to help teachers show they can use AI responsibly in the classroom.
For school systems, Elevate for Educators also introduces new forms of recognition when districts or ministries actively invest in educator AI skills and can show measurable impact. That turns professional development into something that can be tracked and celebrated across entire systems, not just one-off workshops.
Teach in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Learning Zone
Alongside the program, Microsoft is rolling out new education-specific AI capabilities at no extra cost for Microsoft 365 Education customers. Two standout tools are Teach in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app and Microsoft Learning Zone, both framed as ways to give teachers back time and personalize learning.
Teach in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app is essentially a planning and differentiation hub for educators. Teachers can use it to quickly generate standards-aligned lesson plans, adapt reading levels, differentiate content across diverse classrooms, and get AI-powered assessment support that helps them check understanding and generate targeted feedback.
Microsoft Learning Zone, which can take advantage of on‑device intelligence on Copilot+ PCs, focuses more on student-facing, interactive learning experiences. Microsoft pitches it as a way to spark engagement with dynamic, adaptive activities that respond to student input while still staying within the guardrails of education-specific security and privacy commitments.
Free Microsoft 365 Premium and LinkedIn Premium for students
On the higher-ed side, Microsoft is trying to solve a different problem: getting AI tools into students’ hands without adding another subscription bill. A new limited-time offer gives eligible college students 12 months of Microsoft 365 Premium and LinkedIn Premium Career for free when they sign up with a valid college email address.
Microsoft 365 Premium is described as the “ultimate AI productivity plan,” combining the familiar Office apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook with Copilot and dedicated AI agents such as Researcher and Analyst. Students get higher AI usage limits, 1 TB of OneDrive storage, Microsoft Defender protections, and ransomware recovery, essentially mirroring what many professionals use at work.
LinkedIn Premium Career adds the career side of the package: insights into how you stack up against other applicants, visibility into who is viewing your profile, and AI-powered coaching plus access to more than 24,000 expert-led LinkedIn Learning courses. The idea is that students can use Copilot to write better papers and presentations, then flip to LinkedIn to sharpen resumes, research employers, and prepare for interviews using the same AI stack.
Building AI-era skills on campus
Microsoft is also tying the free subscriptions into its broader skills ecosystem. The blog post points students toward programs like Microsoft Learn’s Applied Skills, discounted Microsoft Certification exams, and the Microsoft Student Ambassadors program, which offer structured ways to earn credentials and practice real-world AI and cloud skills.
The message is that Microsoft wants students to leave campus not only comfortable with AI-powered productivity tools, but also with proof points they can show employers. Paired with Elevate for Educators on the K–12 side, the strategy frames Copilot as a through-line from early classroom experiences all the way to first jobs.
Why this matters for schools and students
For schools, the Elevate for Educators program is effectively a no-cost way to formalize AI professional development and plug into a global educator network while getting new Copilot features tuned for education. Instead of experimenting with generic chatbots, teachers can work inside Microsoft 365 with tools built around standards, differentiation, and assessment workflows they already know.
For students, the free Microsoft 365 Premium and LinkedIn Premium Career offer tries to remove one of the biggest barriers to AI adoption: price. By bundling AI productivity tools and career services into a single, time-limited package, Microsoft is betting that once students see the benefits during that free year, many will choose to stay in the ecosystem as paying subscribers after graduation.
If you want, the next step can be a shorter “how to claim this” guide for students (step-by-step using a .edu email) or a separate article aimed at IT and school leaders on how to roll out Elevate for Educators and Teach in Copilot across districts.
