Microsoft has been doing everything in its power to get students using Office 365 – the company’s cloud-based productivity software. The company has offered free trials, discounts and is now even giving away free subscriptions to students at qualifying universities.

Microsoft announced today that its Student Advantage program is now available to universities around the globe. In short, Student Advantage is a program that lets universities that license Office 365 for its faculty and staff give away free subscriptions to Office 365 ProPlus to its students.

It’s obvious that Microsoft is doing this to get more people using its software, but there’s a hint of altruism in the company’s latest promotion. Microsoft says that most hiring managers these days are looking for college students with 20 essential skills and the third on that list of skills is proficiency with Microsoft Office. By offering Office 365 to students for free, Microsoft hopes that universities will be able to better equip students to meet the needs of the modern workplace.

Microsoft has put together a little infographic to display all the benefits students receive by using Office 365 and Student Advantage:

To learn more about Student Advantage and Office 365, check out the promotion’s landing page.

[Image: Office 365 Education]