The Spartan-3 series (especially the XC3S500E on the popular Nexys 2 board or the XC3S1000 on the Spartan-3E Starter Kit) is an excellent resource for learning FPGA fundamentals. These boards cost a fraction of modern Zynq boards. ISE 10.1 is lightweight compared to Vivado (20+ GB installation). It runs comfortably on an old laptop, making it perfect for introductory university labs where the goal is to teach state machines and counters, not AI accelerators.
Xilinx ISE is a software suite designed for the development of digital circuits targeting Xilinx FPGAs, CPLDs (Complex Programmable Logic Devices), and configuration PROMs. Version 10.1 was a significant service pack and feature update to the ISE 9.x series. xilinx ise 10.1