Monash University will be migrating its 58,000 students over to Gmail next month.
The university's deal with Google will see students given details for their opt-in Gmail account, along with access to other online tools through the Google Apps for Education suite.
Monash University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Edward Byrne, said adopting Gmail was a "clever solution" to the ongoing challenge of providing e-communication tools to Australia's largest university.
"Online communication is one of the dominant mediums through which our students and staff exchange information, build knowledge and interact with the global community," Byrne said in a statement. "We want to adopt the technology that will best ultilise this medium."
Monash is not the first university to migrate email accounts over to Google. NSW-based Macquarie University signed up 68,000 students for Gmail in September 2007. Earlier this year, the University of Adelaide and the University of Southern Queensland both adopted Gmail, while Curtin University, QUT and the University of Sydney switched to Microsoft’s Live@edu platform.
Last year Google landed a contract with the NSW Department of Education and Training to support 1.3 million school students with Gmail.
Monash students will be given increased mailbox storage capacity, from 40mb to 7gb, as well as access to Gtalk and Google Calendar.
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