Confidentiality agreements

Confidentiality agreements in relation to projects/theses/other assignments

All staff and external examiners are bound by confidentiality under the Danish Public Administration Act. 

Students can also mark their thesis as “Confidential” in WISEflow, which means it won’t be publicly available. The supervisor/examiner must here ensure that an oral examination is closed for outside audience.

If a company requires a formal confidentiality agreement, there are two types:

1) A standard confidentiality agreement
2) A company-specific confidentiality agreement

It is important that the student him-/herself is fully familiar with the content of the agreement. TTO (Technology Transfer Office) does not offer advice to students.
The supervisor may confer with the director of studies, if necessary. Please refer the students to their study portal where the process is described as well.

If you have questions, you can send an email to nda@econ.au.dk

Standard confidentiality agreement

A standard confidentiality agreement ('student project and internship - bottom of the page) will be adequate in the vast majority of cases, and it is the supervisor's responsibility to ensure that the student is aware of this and also to make it clear that no changes may be made to the agreement. An allonge can be attached instead, if necessary. This alonge should be cleared with TTO through the supervisor.

Procedure:

Step 1: The student signs the agreement 

Step 2: The student sends the agreement to the company to be signed

Step 3: The student sends the agreement to the supervisor to be signed

Step 4: The supervisor signs the agreement and subsequently sends it to the relevant director of studies to be signed

Step 5: The director of studies sends the fully signed agreement to the student from his/her AU email with cc to TTO (tto@au.dk). 

If you have questions, you can send an email to nda@econ.au.dk

Company-specific agreement

A company-specific agreement may be required by the company, and such an agreement must first be formally approved by the TTO (Technology Transfer Office) through the supervisor. This can be a time-consuming process, so make sure to start this proces during the first month of the writing period.

Procedure:

Step 1: The student makes the supervisor aware that an agreement other than the standard confidentiality agreement has been required by the company

Step 2: The supervisor sends the agreement to the TTO (tto@au.dk) for negotiation/approval on behalf of AU from his/her AU email

Step 3: After approval from the TTO, the supervisor sends the agreement to the student

Step 4: The student signs the agreement

Step 5: The student sends the agreement to the company to be signed

Step 6: The student sends the signed agreement back to the supervisor

Step 7: The supervisor signs the agreement and subsequently sends it to the relevant director of studies (or head of department at nda@econ.au.dk – this will be clear from the response from the TTO) to be signec. Attach the response from TTO to your email

Step 8: The director of studies (or head of department) sends the fully signed agreement to the student from his/her AU email with cc to TTO (tto@au.dk).

If you have questions, you can send an email to nda@econ.au.dk