Confidential theses and projects

The following applies to all assignments: 

When a student is working on an assignment, the AU supervisor, any external examiner and other persons at Aarhus University (secretaries and other administrative staff) have a duty of confidentiality pursuant to the Danish Public Administration Act. Note that any information the supervisor becomes aware of during the supervision process is also confidential pursuant to the Danish Public Administration Act. 

AU will not distribute copies to others unless the student makes the assignment available for lending via AU libraries, for example, or if legislation otherwise requires disclosure (e.g. if a request for access to documents is granted). 

In the event of an examination appeal, assignments will be made available to all members of a board of appeals. Members of the board are subject to a duty of confidentiality pursuant to the Danish Public Administration Act. 

The following applies for assignments labelled 'confidential': 

A confidentiality agreement is usually used to regulate a student's behaviour towards the company or organisation by obligating the student to treat all the information they access as confidential. If AU considers the agreement acceptable, AU will sign the agreement, the assignment must be labelled 'Confidential' on the front page, and if the assignment is to be submitted electronically, the student has to register it as confidential in WISEflow. 

The supervisor/examiner will ensure that any oral examination is closed to the public, cf. the Examination Order. 

The student can choose to not give consent to the assignment being made publicly available via the library, which is why the thesis/project report will not be available for reading and/or lending. 

At the request of the company/organisation, a confidentiality agreement can be drawn up between the company/organisation, AU and the student in order to meet the requirements of the Examination Order. AU has prepared a standard confidentiality agreement that you can use. 

If a confidentiality agreement is entered, the student is responsible for ensuring that the agreement is signed well in advance of the submission deadline for the assignment. 

Standard Confidentiality Agreement 

The standard confidentiality agreement can be found on here (the English and Danish versions are at the bottom of the page). 

Please follow this procedure in connection with the standard confidentiality agreement: 

1. The student is responsible for obtaining the signatures of: 
   • The student in question 
   • The company in question  
   • The supervisor
2. The supervisor. The supervisor must subsequently submit the standard confidentiality agreement to the relevant director of studies for signature (see below). 
3. Once the confidentiality agreement has been signed by everyone, the supervisor must send an electronic copy of the signed agreement via their AU email to tto@au.dk (Technology Transfer Office, TTO). The email should include the reference number for filing purposes. 

Please note that any changes to the standard confidentiality agreement must be approved by the TTO. Changes will often result in significantly prolonging the process of signing a confidentiality agreement. We therefore recommend that you use the standard agreement whenever possible. 

Company-specific confidentiality agreement 

A company-specific confidentiality agreement must be used if a company so requests. The agreement must be approved by the TTO (tto@au.dk) on behalf of AU. The supervisor must use their AU email to send the agreement to the TTO once it has been signed. 

Please follow this procedure in connection with company-specific confidentiality agreements: 

1. The student must inform their supervisor that they are using an agreement other than the standard confidentiality agreement. 
2. The supervisor will then send the agreement to the TTO for consideration/approval on behalf of AU. 
3. Once the agreement has been approved, the supervisor must send it to the director of studies (or, if necessary, the department head) for signing. The supervisor should also sign the agreement to confirm they are aware of the agreement. 
4. The student will then receive the signed agreement and must then make sure it is signed by the company. 
5. Once the company has signed the agreement, the supervisor must send the agreement back to the TTO (tto@au.dk) using their AU email. The email should include the reference number for filing purposes. 

Please note that the student must be familiar with the content of the agreement as the student is responsible for compliance with the agreement. If the student needs advice on the content of the agreement and/or needs to negotiate the terms of the agreement, the student will need to find an advisor outside AU. AU cannot advise students about the content of the agreement and cannot negotiate on a student's behalf. 

      
Study administrator

The director of studies can sign the confidentiality agreement (both standard agreements and company-specific agreements that do not cede rights of AU or the supervisor).