The End of Feishu at UESTC
The University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in China announced plans to discontinue its Feishu service by March 18, 2025, primarily due to high licensing costs, sparking discussions about enterprise communication tools in academic settings.
The recent announcement by UESTC to discontinue Feishu, a popular enterprise collaboration platform, has ignited significant discussion about the role of communication tools in academic institutions. This decision reflects broader challenges in implementing enterprise-grade software solutions in educational settings.
The primary factor driving this decision appears to be financial. With UESTC’s population of over 50,000 users, including approximately 44,000 students and 3,800 faculty members (as of October 2024), the licensing costs have become prohibitively expensive. Industry experts estimate that enterprise-level Feishu licenses can cost upwards of 1,440 RMB per user annually, making it a significant financial burden for educational institutions.
Feishu’s comprehensive feature set, including video conferencing, document collaboration, and cloud storage, has made it a valuable tool for academic communication and collaboration. Users particularly praised its superior video conferencing quality compared to alternatives like Tencent Meeting, and its seamless file-sharing capabilities surpassed those of QQ.
However, the platform’s enterprise-focused pricing model, while suitable for corporate clients, has proven challenging for educational institutions. This situation highlights a common dilemma in China’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market, where premium enterprise tools often struggle to find sustainable pricing models for educational institutions.
The university community has expressed mixed reactions to this change. Some argue that alternative platforms like WeChat and QQ groups could adequately serve basic communication needs at no cost. Others worry about the loss of Feishu’s integrated features, particularly affecting cross-campus collaboration, especially for students at UESTC’s Hainan campus.
This situation reflects a broader trend in Chinese universities' digital transformation efforts, where institutions must balance the desire for professional-grade tools against budget constraints. Some suggest that this might lead to increased development of in-house solutions, though concerns exist about whether such alternatives can match Feishu’s functionality and reliability.
The case of UESTC’s Feishu discontinuation serves as a notable example of the challenges educational institutions face in maintaining enterprise-grade communication platforms. It raises important questions about the sustainability of premium software services in academic settings and the future of digital collaboration tools in Chinese universities.