Microsoft just made the announcement that it is opening up its developer and designer tools free of charge to college students in 10 countries around the world – the first phase of the new Microsoft DreamSpark™ program. Belgium is one of the countries on the list. :)

DreamSpark will be live as of February 19th in United States, the United Kingdom, China, Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium. Additional country rollouts are planned throughout the year with full availability expected within 12 months. While this is initially an offer for university students, the intention is to expand DreamSpark to high school students later this year. Further details are being finalized now, but the most important part is that Belgium is already in the list.

Students will be able to any of the following software products via Channel 8 (channel8.msdn.com) and will have to go through a quick online third party-driven authentication process to validate their student status. Once this is done, they will be able to download the software of their choice– one title or all.

• Microsoft developer tools.
  • Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
  • Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
  • XNA Game Studio 2.0
  • 12-month free membership in the XNA Creators Club
• Microsoft designer tools.
  Expression Studio, including:
  • Expression Web
  • Expression Blend
  • Expression Design
  • Expression Media
• Microsoft platform resources.
  • SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition
  • Windows Server, Standard Edition

This is REALLY great news for all the tech and design students out there. It’s literally hundreds and hundreds of Euros you can save whilst still being able to use the quality tools that can help you realize your potential and become a pro. Everything will be made available through Channel 8, so go dig there if you’re ready to fire off the rocket!

Extended interview with Joe Wilson after the jump:

Q&A: Joe Wilson, Microsoft’s Senior Director of Academic Initiatives for Developer and Platform Evangelism, discusses how the company hopes making professional software tools available at no charge to high school and university students worldwide will be a catalyst for the next generation of technology innovation.
Not just interest, but daily use of technology among today’s students is running at an all-time high. Yesterday’s “user” is today’s “creator,” with students creating their own digital content, social networking pages and even applications every day. It can however be a challenge for aspiring technologists to lay their hands on the latest professional-grade software development and designer tools. The need is especially heightened amid a chronic IT skills shortage in the global workforce that threatens to hobble economic development. With Microsoft DreamSpark™ program that’s all about to change.
PressPass went back to school with Joe Wilson, Microsoft’s Senior Director of Academic Initiatives, to learn how Microsoft hopes to take the students’ passion for technology and turn it into an active interest in a career through the magic of software. Additionally we wanted to find outhow the company will manage the formidable task of rolling out access of professional software to a total audience of up to one billion high school and university students around the world.

PressPass: What is the thinking behind Microsoft DreamSpark? And how did you come up with the name?
Wilson: Microsoft DreamSpark is a community based program to provide students with free access to Microsoft’s industry-leading software development, gaming and design tools. Working with schools, governments, partners and student organizations worldwide we will be making this available starting today in Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Other countries will come online over the next year, as well as expanding the program to include high school students. The program is open to all students at education institutions worldwide, though those studying science, technology, engineering and math disciplines (STEM-D) are expected to be the first to jump on it. All eligible students need is access to a computer with an internet connection to download the products as well as free access keys at http://channel8.msdn.com.

We call it DreamSpark because every great technology breakthrough starts life as someone’s dream or idea. We want to make sure that students have the tools to spark their own dreams plus the power to turn them into reality.

PressPass: Why is Microsoft doing this?
Wilson: We believe students can do amazing thing with technology if they can just get access to the right tools. This is a way to make sure that they have what then need to test the boundaries of what today’s technology can do and also prepare for a great career at the same time. The added benefit to industry is that we’re addressing one of the toughest challenges confronting employers today: attracting and developing qualified IT professionals. We’re trying to help close this gap by giving students globally the opportunity to get the tools they’ll need after they graduate in andjump-start their careers to land that first job.

Making sure there is a strong pipeline of technically skilled students is key to the future of the global economy. The ability to create new software and services will be an essential part of the skill-set of the next generation of workers. Technology is one of the chief drivers pushing worldwide economic development and job creation. As well as giving students priceless exposure to the tools they can expect to use in the workplace, DreamSpark is about putting professional-level tools in the hands students to amplify the impact of their studies and fire up their imaginations about the power of technology.

PressPass: What sorts of things will students be able to do with DreamSpark?
Wilson: We handpicked the products that make up DreamSpark with the current and future development of the IT industry in mind; so, by design, the offering straddles three of the industry’s highest growth segments: development, design and gaming.
For starters, we’re equipping students with the horsepower they’ll need to take their programming skills to the next level. Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition is the industry leading development tool that gives them the ability to accomplish anything, ranging from straightforward tasks like creating plug-ins for FaceBook or MySpace, or gadgets for Windows Vista, to sophisticated projects like da fully-featured website or coding entirely new applications from scratch. The only limit is their imagination.
At the same time, design is a real driving force in the industry as user experience becomes such a key factor in deciding what technology should be used on any given project. The Expression Studio suite enables students to bring their creative visions to life with new design concepts and more impactful digital content.

One of the most exciting industries that make great uses of both development and design skills is gaming. There’s an intense sense of excitement that comes with creating cool new stuff and reflecting gaming’s growing public profile, students will be able to flex their creativity and dream up new games for Xbox and the PC with the XNA Game Studio 2.0 and a 12-month academic membership to the XNA Creators Club.

PressPass: How will DreamSpark benefit students in their studies and after they graduate?
Wilson: Students will be able to use the DreamSpark products instantly in their assignments and apply what they’re learning in class to try out new ideas and get more from their studies.

They’ll also have the opportunity to pick up an essential foundation in industry-leading software that will set them up for the workplace, where they will hit the ground running and start making contributions sooner. More than half a million hardware, software and IT services firms along with end-user organizations run Microsoft software, a recent IDC study found. That’s 42 percent of the IT workforce worldwide, so they’ll find a rich seam of opportunities awaiting them in the world of work. The software gives them a distinct competitive edge.

PressPass: How will Microsoft verify that people using DreamSpark are students?
Wilson: We’re working with academic institutions, partners, student organizations and government agencies to harness the existing trusted infrastructure already in place across different countries to verify student status and establish eligibility for DreamSpark.
Student identity is verified by both institutionsorganizations that subscribe to public ID systems or even partners who work directly with Microsoft to connect the verification process. They transmit a simple binary yes or no concerning eligibility. The important thing is that students and universities retain total control over the transaction. Microsoft is not privy to any personal information about students - safeguarding their privacy is of paramount concern to us. Once we receive verification of their eligibility they can bypass the verification process on future visits to the DreamSpark download site.

PressPass: What is the company doing to facilitate access for all students as quickly possible?
Wilson: This project is a major undertaking and not something we can accomplish overnight with the flick of a switch. We can’t do it by ourselves; it’s going to take a cooperative effort. We’ve undertaken extensive outreach to the academic community and government agencies in individual countries to bring together a broad coalition of partners to bring DreamSpark to all students as quickly as possible and to ensure we have accurate verification methods in place. We want to make sure thatthat students are students and can access these titles for download.
We’re pursuing this aggressively with our teams on the ground in individual countries and hope to offer global access within a year. We are asking partners, governments and student organizationsto help us rise to this challenge and do our best by the world’s students.
In the meantime, our rollout timetable reflects the countries where the infrastructure is immediately available to bring DreamSpark to students.

PressPass: Why are college students important to Microsoft?
Wilson: Microsoft has been engaging with students since our inception. Our founders were basically students when they started the company, and we have always reached out to students to make sure they had opportunities to show the world what they can do. We believe in the power of students to change the world.

Not just Microsoft but everyone has vested interest in seeing to it that tomorrow’s workforce is as technologically literate as possible. Microsoft is in the fortunate position of being able to do something about this right now, so we’re exercising the responsibility that goes with industry leadership to affect change for the better. A more technologically-adept future workforce, skilled specifically in the technologies most organizations use, is something every business, government agency and non-profit group stands to gain from. It’s a rising tide that raises all ships.
DreamSpark complements a broad array of initiatives Microsoft is spearheading to unlock the potential and creativity of students. Just take a look at Imagine Cup, MSDNAA, Microsoft Student Partners– these are all created to open doors and create opportunities for students.