Applecare is slightly different as you get telephone support and so on, but yes as you bought through the education store you get a 3 year warranty on your hardware if anything goes wrong, which is an utter bargain given that you probably saved 10-15% too I think this may be a UK only thing, I'm not sure...
You don't get the phone support of applecare if things go belly up, but then of course there are helpful forums like this to sort you out, but if anything fails and it isn't your fault in the next 3 years, Apple should be fixing it for free as far as I understand it - have a look at the T&Cs at the bottom of the HE site. I plan on getting a 13" pro in the next few months via the HE store and taking advantage myself!
HE Won't pay for phone support after two years (as described).
Apple also won't pay for shipping your machine to their repair depot AFTER the first year of warranty which Apple considers full blown AppleCare and is included with every mac (as reported on these forums).
I think this may be a UK only thing, I'm not sure...