The new three-year agreement adds to ESRI (UK)'s existing 16 year participation in Chest, through which over 75 per cent of UK universities and other educational institutions purchase GIS from ESRI (UK).
 
Geographic information is central to all walks of life and this is reflected in its use in the higher and further education arena. The use of GIS allows students and teachers to engage in studies that promote critical thinking, integrated learning, and multiple intelligences.  As well as being taught at undergraduate and post graduate level, GIS is a vital tool for researchers in many disciplines, ranging from biology and zoology, to environmental development and earth sciences. 
Institutions participating in the scheme benefit from heavily discounted software as well as a 50 per cent discount on ESRI (UK) training courses and access to ESRI Inc's online training courses. The new agreement gives students and staff an increased selection of geographically based software tools from the ESRI portfolio including extensions to the core software not previously available to UK educational institutions and the option to join the EDN (ESRI Developer Network). Administration staff can also use the software in all aspects of university administration.
 
Angela Baker, Community Programmes Manager, ESRI (UK), said: "We recognise the important role GIS has within education and are committed to supporting the academic community in the UK and Ireland.  Our long-standing relationship with educational bodies gives us insight into their GIS needs and how we can best meet those. We are pleased to be able to support them in their pioneering work by making available a wider offering of ESRI products than ever before at an affordable price." 
 
Kamie Kimmitto, Geomatics Specialist and Senior Geodata Services Development Officer, Manchester InforMation and Associated Services (MIMAS), said: "MIMAS, as a national resource centre for the academic community, bought ESRI software via the Chest agreement and uses it to create and manipulate mapping data, allowing students and academics to extract, reformat and download image maps and digital elevation models.
 
"It is reassuring to have a stable and mutually beneficial relationship with a company whose solutions enable academics to be at the forefront of research and work with industry standard GIS".

 
About ESRI (UK)
ESRI (UK) is part of the global ESRI network. With the single, largest pool of GIS expertise in the UK, the company is the technical authority on GIS. ESRI (UK) provides solutions, technology and services including off the shelf applications built on the ArcGIS software suite and an extensive range of consulting and training services.
Its offerings meet a range of business needs in different markets including Business, Local & Central Government, Public Safety, Utilities and Telecommunications, as well as catering for system integrators and application developers through the ESRI Developer Network.
ESRI (UK)'s customers include both public sector clients such as Leeds City Council, Metropolitan Police, DCLG, The Environment Agency and businesses including Thames Water, Royal & SunAlliance and The AA.
ESRI (UK) helps businesses become more profitable and public service more efficient through the better use of geographic information. The ability to understand customers' needs and harness the power of GIS for the long-term benefit of organisations is what we call Visionary Thinking.
 
About Eduserv and Chest
Eduserv is a not-for-profit professional IT services group, offering leading edge technology to education Institutions and public sector bodies. The surplus from trading activities is ploughed back into the education community via the Eduserv Foundation, a body dedicated to funding programs to help learners, researchers and the education institutions they work for, realise the benefits of IT.
Eduserv was established from cooperative shared services developed in UK universities. Eduserv is dedicated to delivering value from public sector IT investments and has an in-depth understanding of education and the wider public sector in the UK.
Licence negotiation and management to deliver preferential license terms and conditions for software and electronic information on behalf of universities and colleges. Ninety-seven per cent of universities and colleges benefit from at least one Chest agreement saving around £25 million annually.
About MIMAS
MIMAS is Manchester InforMation and Associated Services, an academic national data centre within the University of Manchester