Linux packages are distributed by HTTP or FTP. There can be public mirrors handled by the network operator or some universities.
It benefits everyone because the automatic mirror selection in Linux distributions picks the lowest latency mirror automatically. That means all OS running in the academic network will pick the public academic mirror, since it's the closest.
It benefits everyone because the automatic mirror selection in Linux distributions picks the lowest latency mirror automatically. That means all OS running in the academic network will pick the public academic mirror, since it's the closest.