Access to Project Professional 2021

William Haight 20 Reputation points
2026-04-03T14:09:41.7566667+00:00

I teach an engineering management course at GMU and assigned the students a GANTT Chart project using what used to be called MS Project, which I understand was replaced by Planner in August 2025. GMU only has a basic license for Planner and needs the advanced subscription to produce Gantt Charts. I will work with GMU to get that upgraded, but meanwhile we're trying to get access to Project Professional 2021 via Azure for Students to get us through this semester, which ends this month. My students logged into Azure using the attached instructions and have been able to access it, but as a Teacher, for some reason, it doesn't appear to be available to me. I need access in order to grade their submissions. Can you assist, please?

Thank you. Prof William Haight

Microsoft 365 and Office | Project | For education | Other
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AI answer

2026-04-03T14:09:59.4033333+00:00

Project Professional 2021 and Azure for Students are separate offerings, and access to one does not automatically grant access to the other.

From the provided information:

  1. Azure Dev Tools for Teaching / Azure for Students
    • Azure Dev Tools for Teaching gives institutions and students access to certain developer tools via the Azure Education Hub.
    • Students can also sign up for the Azure for Students offer, which provides $100 in Azure credit and access to free Azure services, but this is focused on Azure services and developer tools, not specifically on Project Professional 2021.
    • Azure Dev Tools for Teaching is intended for software development and testing tools such as Windows Server, Visual Studio, SQL Server, etc.; Project Professional is not listed among the included products.
  2. Faculty vs. student access
    • Students can sign up for Azure for Students individually if they meet the eligibility requirements (age, enrollment, and verification via institutional email).
    • Faculty access to Azure Dev Tools for Teaching is controlled by the institution’s Volume Licensing agreement and the Azure Dev Tools for Teaching administrator. Faculty can install eligible software for noncommercial use when it is included in the institution’s subscription.
    • If students are seeing Project Professional 2021 via a specific channel (for example, a DVD image or key provided by the institution), that distribution and licensing is managed by the institution, not by Azure for Students itself.
  3. What is needed for instructor access
    • To get access to the same software that students are using (such as Project Professional 2021), the institution’s Azure Dev Tools for Teaching administrator or licensing/IT team must provision that access for faculty under the institution’s agreement.
    • If Project Professional 2021 is being distributed to students via a separate academic license (for example, a campus agreement that includes Office/Project desktop licenses), the same team must confirm whether faculty are covered and how to obtain installation media and keys.
  4. Planner / Project for the web
    • Project for the web capabilities (including Gantt-style views) and the new Planner experience are tied to Microsoft 365 and Dataverse-backed subscriptions, not to Azure for Students.
    • To use Gantt charts in the web experience, GMU must upgrade to a plan that includes the required Project/Planner capabilities; this is done through Microsoft 365 licensing, not Azure for Students.

Actionable next steps with GMU IT/licensing:

  1. Confirm with GMU’s licensing/IT team:
    • Whether GMU has Azure Dev Tools for Teaching and who the administrator is.
    • Whether Project Professional 2021 is licensed for faculty as well as students, and how faculty are supposed to obtain it (for example, via a download portal or a provided installer and key).
  2. If Azure Dev Tools for Teaching is in use:
    • Ask the admin to verify which products are available in the Azure Education Hub for faculty accounts and whether any additional assignment or role is required for faculty to see the downloads.
  3. For web-based Gantt charts going forward:
    • Work with GMU’s Microsoft 365 admin to upgrade to a Project/Planner plan that supports Gantt charts in the new Planner / Project for the web experience.

There is no supported path in the provided material to grant instructor access to Project Professional 2021 solely through Azure for Students; access must come from GMU’s academic licensing and/or Azure Dev Tools for Teaching administration.

References:

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