"A significant benefit for members of the zSeries program of the IBM Academic Initiative is the free use of a z/OS mainframe system (Knowledge Center) for education and research. Professors and students get ID's on the system, allowing them to explore and learn on a real mainframe environment. A system programmer and an administrator are available to assist in the process's.
For more information, contact the zSeries program project manager at univprg@us.ibm.com."
Slashdot Mirror
Well, IBM is trying to get schools access to equipment and software. Many schools don't want to staff up to support the equipment, so they offer access. See the middle of this pagep roducts/zseries/
http://www.developer.ibm.com/university/scholars/
which says:
"A significant benefit for members of the zSeries program of the IBM Academic Initiative is the free use of a z/OS mainframe system (Knowledge Center) for education and research. Professors and students get ID's on the system, allowing them to explore and learn on a real mainframe environment. A system programmer and an administrator are available to assist in the process's.
For more information, contact the zSeries program project manager at univprg@us.ibm.com."
Sure looks like they're trying.
(disclosure, I'm involved with this program)