Purchasing Software

What CSCS can do for you

CSCS does not sell software however, CSCS can install software for you, or make it as easy as possible for you to install yourself.
We can do this by working with the UIS to make software available on a large scale by having it added to the Company Portal on UMD devices. If software is available on the Company Portal this does not mean that a license is available, most software requires a license to be purchased for each user or group of users.

University Site Licences

If software is used throughout the University, then sometimes a site licence may be purchased. Often this will mean that the software is free for "Teaching Use" (use by either teachers and students - this includes both undergraduates and postgraduates)

Teaching vs Research Use

Since researchers spend money 'external' to the University, they will still have to pay to use the site licence. Unfortunately this applies to the majority of the Clinical School as we are mostly research. It is still usually cheaper than purchasing from a 3rd party.

Details of software licensed by the UIS can be found on their "Software" page https://help.uis.cam.ac.uk/service/software

Purchasing Software Licences

The 'Academia for Education' portal should be your first port of call. It has various applications available for purchase including Adobe products, Endnote, etc. Please note you are buying the licence, not the CD / DVD / Installer. Once you purchase a licence, you will receive a link to download the software.

Do I pay VAT on my Software?

The general rule is that software that is at least partially used for medical or medical research purposes is VAT exempt. This rule does not apply to hardware, which must only be of medical research use to qualify as medically exempt).

The University Software policy as published by the UIS can be found here;
https://help.uis.cam.ac.uk/policies/terms