Confidentiality and rights

Copenhagen Business School (CBS) attaches great importance to cooperation between the business community and our students. The present set of rules has been drawn up to ensure that the cooperation is beneficial to all parties.

The student and CBS
The student is not employed by and thus does not act on behalf of CBS, nor is the student in any position to commit CBS. The student is not subject to any monitoring by CBS of his or her activities, and CBS cannot be held liable for any actions or omissions committed by the student.
The student is not insured by CBS in connection with his or her stay in a business.

The student and the business
Any collaboration on a project must be based on an agreement between the student and the business. In principle, there will be no direct contact between the tutor and the business in the project period.
In some cases the business may wish to remunerate the student for his or her efforts. Any such remuneration is of no concern of CBS.
In such cases it is important that both the student and the business have agreed on the expectations and requirements of the business to the results of the project, as there may be discrepancies between the business’ requirements for immediate applicability (e.g. in the form of a consultant’s report) and CBS’ assessment of the project according to academic standards.

Form and content of the written report
Before the project starts, the student and his or her tutor discuss the problem statement, following which the student and the business together assess the possibilities for cooperation on the project.
From the point of view of CBS, emphasis is placed on theoretical knowledge and the application of theories on practical issues; this must be reflected in the project. It may thus be necessary for the student and the business to include a form of additional reporting in the cooperative agreement.
The student must be able to continue working with the subject of the project, even though the cooperation with the business may be discontinued in the course of the process.

Confidentiality
In connection with the cooperation, the student will often get access to company data or other confidential information that the business does not want to have made public. As a consequence, the business will often demand that the information surrendered to the student and the tutor in connection with the project must be kept confidential. The student should respect any such demand from the business and sign an agreement to that effect. A paradigm agreement is attached as Appendix. This agreement has been drawn up in accordance with e.g. the recommendations and guidelines prepared by a committee under the Danish Rectors’ Conference in cooperation with The Confederation of Danish Industries (The recommendations can be found in the publication, “Kontakter, kontrakter og kodeks. Forskningssamarbejde mellem universiteter og virksomheder” [Contacts, contracts and codices. Research co-operation between universities and companies], The Danish Confederation of Industries and The Danish Rectors’ Conference, September 2004) and following discussions with several large Danish businesses that CBS cooperate with.

The agreement is signed by the student, the business and the tutor before initiating any kind of cooperation. If the tutor is expected to sign the agreement, the paradigm MUST be used in its original wording (with the exception of added names, project description etc.)

External examiners are appointed by CBS in collaboration with the national external examiners’ institution according to current rules. Thus, it is not possible to give any special consideration to e.g. the external examiner’s industry relations. The external examiners activities are covered by the Public Administration Act, including the provisions on disqualification and secrecy. Thus it is not possible to get the external examiner to sign specific confidentiality statements.

The business is obliged to inform the student of what data are made available and who the student may contact for questions; similarly, the student is obliged to inform the business’ employees of how the information will be utilised. It is possible to divide the project into a confidential and a non- confidential section. However, it is not possible to exclude examiners (and where relevant, any opponent group) from access to parts of the project, if these parts are to form the basis for the assessment of the student’s performance.

It is important that records are kept of the information surrendered by the business. As a consequence, the student is obliged to keep records of received information; the list will need to be approved by the business on a regular basis, usually at least once a month (if any new information has been handed over in the period).

The student has a similar obligation to keep records of the information handed over to his or her tutor, unless the information has already been incorporated in the project.

One provision of the agreement is that the business is entitled to review the project before it is submitted to CBS, and the business is entitled to demand changes made to the project if the business finds that parts of it contain confidential information that the business does not want made public. If the company’s exercise of this right results in the project not being suitable for submission, the student may choose to submit the project to CBS with a confidentiality clause. A confidentiality statement has been prepared as an appendix to the paradigm agreement; the statement is signed and submitted with the written report. The business is obliged to sign the confidentiality statement.

Rights
The student holds all rights to the project/product that the student has prepared. If more students have prepared a joint project/product, they hold joint rights. As a consequence, only the student(s) can allow any restrictions to these rights (section 43 of the Ministry of Science Examination Order (Ministerial Order No. 857 of 1 July 2010 on University Examinations and Grading) and section 55 of the Ministry of Education examination Order).

Any agreement between the student and the business on any transfer of rights will only affect the student and the business and will have no effect on any rights held by the teacher/tutor or CBS.

If the student’s work in the business is expected to result in a specific product (e.g. a software program), it is very important that an agreement is made in advance on any transfer of rights. If no agreement has been made, the general provisions in Danish legislation will apply.

The paradigm confidentiality agreement includes a provision on transfer of rights that can be used in such cases.

The business, the student and CBS may make an agreement to what extent each of the parties is entitled to publish the results of the cooperation. In this context, ”CBS” is the tutor.

Any lending of theses and dissertations via the CBS Library may only take place provided the student has given his or her written consent. These papers may only be used in teaching if the student has given his/her written consent.

CBS has right of ownership to the physical or electronic copies of a paper that according to current rules have been submitted in connection with the assessment. According to legislation on records, CBS is obliged to keep these copies; consequently they cannot be handed over to the student and/or the business.

1 February 2011
Johan Roos
President

The present checklist is intended for the student’s personal use and should be regarded in combination with the CBS ”Rules for entering into agreements of confidentiality and rights in connection with cooperation between students, businesses and Copenhagen Business School on theses, dissertations, semester papers, projects etc” of 8 May 2006.

Project start

• The problem statement must be approved by the tutor before contact to the business is made, and the student(s) and the business discuss whether there is a basis for cooperation.
• Who is the contact inside the business?
• How many hours can the student(s) expect that the business is prepared to invest in the cooperation?
• How many hours can the business expect that the student(s) is/are prepared to invest in the cooperation?
• What is the time frame (beginning and completion)?
• To what extent can the student(s) expect to be allowed to use business resources, such as Internet access, IT equipment, databases, copying facilities etc?
• If the business wants to remunerate the students for their efforts, details of conditions, extent etc. must be agreed upon in advance.
• Will the student be covered by the business’ insurance during the visit, or will the student need to take out their own insurance?

Access to and administration of information and rights

• To what extent does the business make information available? Is the information publicly accessible (eg via the website, annual reports etc) and/or confidential?
• How is any confidential information to be treated? It is important to make sure that the required basic data can be incorporated in the written paper that the student submits for assessment. It may thus be necessary to delimit the paper to avoid having to use confidential information. – Students should bear in mind that the teacher/tutor and the external examiner in their capacity as civil servants have a duty of silence and are not allowed to pass on any information that has been labelled as confidential. If the business is expected to disclose confidential information, a confidentiality agreement must be made before the cooperation is initiated (a paradigm agreement form is attached as an appendix to the guidelines).
• Who may get a copy of the thesis? The teacher/tutor, the external examiner and CBS need one copy each, but are other businesses, fellow students or others allowed to receive copies? Should the business have one or more copies? If they want multiple copies, who will pay for them?
• If the project is confidential, will there be any time limits (this is important in connection with library lending)? – In many cases the information will be irrelevant to eg competitors already after one year.
• If the project involves developing a specific product (eg a software program), who will own the rights? And will the student(s) receive any compensation in this connection?

Communication of results

• What can be published afterwards – and by whom? It should be noted that students basically hold the copyright to the contents of their written papers. Will the results be communicated in a journal or newspaper article? If so, who will write it – and who will be the sender? Does the article need to be approved by the business?
• Is the business prepared to get the final reporting on the project in the form of a thesis (the main content of which is theories and methodology), or does the business want a separate document? It should be noted that this implies a significant amount of extra work! Also make sure to stress the difference between a CBS assignment and a consultant’s report. Does the business want an oral presentation of the results?

Copenhagen Business School
8 May 2006

1.1 Introduction
1.2. CBS (CBS is used as the term for the whole university. Who can make the decisions on behalf of CBS varies, according to the rule described in the university act, CBS bylaws and delegation letters, and will not be further elaborated here.) wishes to provide teaching activities which meet the students’ and society’s need for good, contemporary and flexible education. The purpose of the guidelines is to clarify existing copyrights applying to teaching activities and teaching material etc. developed by CBS’ employees.

1.3 The guidelines do not deprive the employees of their statutory and customary copyright to their work, but clarify CBS’ right to use teaching materials and record teaching activities etc. and make use hereof.

1.4 The motivation behind the guidelines is a wish to continuously use recordings of teaching activities, online courses, etc. in the development of CBS’ programmes and make use of all kinds of supply modes to replace a lot of one-way communication with greater opportunities for dialogue between lecturer and students. The aim is therefore not to reduce the number of lecturers but solely to obtain a better and more modern use of the total amount of teaching resources.

1.5 The recording of teaching activities and use of teaching material are natural elements of the daily teaching activities in a number of courses, and it usually goes unnoticed. Since much time and many resources are invested in this, it is deemed proper to describe how you should proceed in the rare case that disagreements occur, e.g. when an employment terminates, so we can ensure that the work efforts of colleagues and CBS’ investments will continue to benefit the students.

2 Scope of application
2.1 The guidelines apply to all members of academic staff employed at CBS. The employees are represented by the CBS Association of Faculty Staff and the Professors’ Association (These guidelines do also apply for work done for CBS by part-time teachers (DVIP). When special cases occur, the dean of education can make exemptions. Students rights are not covered by these guidelines.).

3 Recording of teaching activities etc.
3.1 Recording of teaching activities is normal. It can be used for a number of different purposes e.g. repetition, e-learning courses, etc. CBS is therefore entitled to record any form of teaching activity, lecture, presentation, etc. (hereinafter referred to as “Teaching activity”) taking place in rooms used by CBS. The recording can be carried out in any way deemed appropriate (sound, film, livestream, etc.) and by integrating other materials, e.g. slides, in the recording (hereinafter referred to as “Recordings”).

3.2 When video is recorded, one or more cameras are usually set up in the relevant room. They will primarily focus on the lecturer/speaker/ presenter (hereafter referred to as “The lecturer”) and the teaching materials (as defined below) which he or she applies during the teaching activity. The recordings can be stored on any medium and in any format.

3.3 As a lecturer, it is only reasonable that you know in advance whether the teaching activity will be recorded, and that the recorded teaching activity will not be taken out of context. CBS must inform about the teaching activity being recorded well ahead of time in order for the lecturer to adapt to the circumstances, for instance adjust the content or form or to explore his or her possibilities in terms of giving the lecture (The individual lecturer cannot oppose the teaching activity being recorded, but CBS will as until now strive to ensure that the tasks which the lecturer is to perform are organised according to what the lecturer does best and feels most comfortable with.). Information on scheduled recordings should be presented in such a way that the lecturer knows which teaching activity (activities) will be recorded.

3.4 The recordings belong to CBS and must not be used by others without CBS’ written con-sent unless otherwise stated in these guidelines, cf. ss. 4.8 and 5.8. If an agreement is signed giving others permission to use the recordings, the terms and conditions hereof must be specified.

4 Use of recordings
4.1 CBS is entitled to use the recordings to the extent necessary for CBS’ core activities. This could for instance include employees using the recordings in connection with preparation and performance of a teaching activity or the recordings being available for students at CBS. It may take place in CBS’ rooms or on CBS’ websites, intranet, learning management system (LMS) or the like.

4.2 CBS is allowed to edit the recordings by cutting between different cameras, by adding teaching material (as defined below) and by using extracts of the material as long as it is still meaningful. Beyond this, CBS is not entitled to edit the recordings without the lecturer’s consent.

4.3 The lecturer’s name, title and place of work in addition to the date of the recording must always be stated in all copies of the recordings and when the recordings are made available as stated in s. 4.1. The lecturer must be credited as long as he or she has contributed to the material. The lecturer can ask not to be credited if he or she wishes to.

4.4 The lecturer will have access to the recordings before it is used any further. If unintentional, unfortunate performance appears in some recordings, the lecturer can contact the dean of education and ask to have these removed.

4.5 If the content of a recording turns out to be academically outdated or false, the lecturer can contact the dean of education to draw attention to this and ask for the recording to be removed or adjusted for this reason. In case of disagreement or doubt regarding the extent to which the material is academically outdated or false, the employee representative and programme director can be included in the discussion (This is a description of the lecturer’s right to get material removed. Normally the course coordinator will make sure that material that is out of date will be removed).

4.6 CBS’ rights in pursuance of ss. 4.1 and 4.2 shall still apply regardless of whether the employment between CBS and the lecturer subsequently is terminated.

4.7 When 5 years have passed since the recording was made, the lecturer can make a request to the dean of education demanding CBS to cease using the recording and delete it no later than 3 months after the end of the academic year (1 September – 31 August) in which the request was submitted.

4.8 In pursuance of s. 4, CBS is not entitled to assign its rights to a third party or in any other way make the recording available for a third party without the lecturer’s consent. An agreement to use the recording outside CBS can be made between the lecturer and the dean of education, and the lecturer will be eligible for compensation.

5 Use of teaching material
5.1 The term teaching material includes any form of material developed by CBS’ employees cf. s. 2.1 (hereinafter referred to as “the creator”) and used in connection with teaching activities at CBS. It could be texts, pictures, graphics, PowerPoint presentations, slides, diagrams, assignments, grading instructions, e-learning, quizzes, film and audio recordings, etc. (hereinafter referred to as “teaching activities”).

5.2 CBS is entitled to use teaching material to the extent necessary for CBS’ core activities. It can for instance be used by other CBS employees in connection with preparation, be produced in multiple copies or be made available for the students. It can be applied in any format and setting both in rooms used by CBS or on websites, intranet, learning management systems and the like for students.

5.3 CBS is entitled to demand that the creator of the teaching material sends or uploads a digital copy to CBS.

5.4 CBS is not entitled to edit the teaching materials without the creator’s consent. This does not prevent the use of extracts of the material as long as the meaning is preserved.

5.5 The creator’s name, title and place of work in addition to the date of creation must always be stated in all copies of the teaching material made available.

5.6 CBS’ rights in pursuance of s. 5 remain in force regardless of whether the employment be-tween CBS and the creator subsequently should terminate.

5.7 In pursuance of s. 5, CBS is not entitled to assign its rights to a third party or in any other way make it available for a third party without the creator’s consent. An agreement on using the teaching material outside CBS’ ordinary activities can be made between the lecturer and the dean of education, and any potential income shall normally be divided between CBS and the lecturer.

5.8 Teaching material produced at CBS can only be used in another context after agreement between CBS and the creator. In principle, the material cannot be used by a competing company or organisation. The creator can use simple teaching material (e.g. PowerPoints, notes, smaller assignments etc.) developed by the creator alone outside CBS without further agreement. Please also refer to the guidelines for external employment in force at any time.

5.9 These guidelines do not affect the existing practice according to which the lecturer can publish textbooks. It is the creator’s/lecturer’s own responsibility to sign relevant publishing agreements and agreements on sale, etc. observing the obligations as an employee at CBS.

Teaching material developed in employment outside CBS is not covered by these guidelines provided that CBS’ guidelines for external employment are observed.

6 Other provisions
6.1 The lecturer/creator shall not receive distinct remuneration or reimbursement for use of material pursuant to these guidelines.

6.2 The lecturer and/or creator of the teaching material must preferably avoid or alternatively draw attention to potential violations of third party rights.

6.3 The establishment of the guidelines follows a discussion between CBS and the employee representatives for academic staff.

6.4 The guidelines should continuously be adjusted according to developments, and they must therefore generally be reviewed every second year in the autumn semester. The discussions will take place between CBS and employee representatives for academic staff.

10 March 2018