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Email services

All fully-enrolled students are issued with an institutional email account, in the form username@student.bbk.ac.uk. This is a Microsoft Exchange Online account which enables you to use the full range of Microsoft apps within Microsoft 365, including Teams.  

prospective students

  • When you first enquire, apply or enrol with us, we communicate with you using the contact email address you provide to us. Once you are provisioned with your institutional account, it is up to you which contact email you would prefer Birkbeck to use when contacting you.

Enrolled students

  • Once you are fully enrolled:
    • You will be automatically issued with a new Birkbeck email account. This is a Microsoft Exchange Online account, in the form username@student.bbk.ac.uk.
    • You can use this Birkbeck Microsoft email account as your contact email address, or you can choose to continue using your private email address as your 'contact email' by logging in to My Birkbeck then go to Manage profile > My contact details. This is where we send all important College correspondence.
    • If this email forwarding was not in place for you before July 2024, we recommend that you log in to your Birkbeck email account to ensure that you have not missed any important emails from the College.
    • Regardless of which address you set as your contact email, you will need to use your Microsoft account to log in to Microsoft 365 (M365) and to get the full benefit of Teams for learning and support. When you log in to M365, choose School/work account and use username@student.bbk.ac.uk and your Birkbeck password.
    • Your Birkbeck Microsoft email account is provided for the duration of your enrolment. It will be closed when your access to core IT facilities closes on completion of your studies.

Accessing your Birkbeck Microsoft mailbox

  • Your Birkbeck Microsoft mailbox is part of M365. You can access it using Outlook in different ways.
    • Outlook on the web - this is the web version which you can access anywhere from any device. Use the Outlook on the web URL or log in to M365 and select Outlook from the app list.
    • Outlook desktop app - this is the full-functionality version which you can install on your personal devices from the Install Office button on the M365 home page.
    • Microsoft Outlook app for Android/iOS - this is the mobile version. You can download the app from the relevant app store or from the Microsoft website.

Outlook training

Google mail accounts

  • Prior to 2020-21, IT Services provided Birkbeck Google Mail accounts to students on request, but now all active students are provided with a Microsoft 365 email account for the duration of their studies. If you already have a Birkbeck Gmail account, you can continue to use it, and list it as your contact email address if you wish.
  • Some students require a Birkbeck Google account in addition to their Microsoft account, so they can use their faculty's Chromebooks. This should be requested on your behalf by the lecturer/tutor concerned.
  • The provision, retention and use of Google accounts is at Birkbeck's discretion. They are intended for personal use and should not be used or connected to any form of business use that is not directly associated with Birkbeck.
  • An acceptable use policy (section 3.7) applies to all Google accounts (mail and other Google services) and in particular the amount of storage used. This should not exceed an average in use across all Birkbeck Google account holders. If your usage exceeds the average, Birkbeck will contact you and ask you to reduce your consumption.
  • Birkbeck reserves the right to amend, remove, suspend or disable access to Google accounts without notice. In no event will Birkbeck be liable for making such amendments, removals, suspensions or disabling access. Users of Birkbeck's Google account will not be entitled to any refund from Birkbeck for any services or other materials that are removed or become unavailable.

Birkbeck email security and quarantine (Barracuda)

  • Email quarantine is an important part of our IT security defences. It helps protect our services by filtering out spam and potentially malicious messages and holds them in a temporary location where they can be reviewed and retrieved if necessary.
  • All inbound mail to your Birkbeck Exchange Online account first passes through a mail sanitisation system called Barracuda Essentials which blocks the majority of malicious email.
  • Occasionally the system will quarantine email that it isn’t sure about. If this happens, you will receive an email notification from quarantine@ess.uk.barracudanetworks.com. You can either ignore the email and the quarantined message(s) will be deleted after 30 days, or you can log in to Barracuda and have the message delivered to your mailbox.
  • Further information about email security and quarantine (Barracuda), including instructions on how to manage quarantined and blocked messages are available on the IT Knowledge SharePoint site (requires log-in to M365 using your Birkbeck email address and password).