Summary
This page contains our confidentiality policy and direct links to our various Fontys ICT confidentiality statement formats. It also addresses how we deal with confidentiality around internship and graduation .

It is Fontys ICT's preference to be open and transparent in education. When collaborating with the business community, however, we are forced to meet requirements and conditions of the business community regarding confidentiality of sensitive business data. This is particularly true for internships and graduations, but projects within other semesters may also require signing for confidentiality.

The basic principle is that the student discusses confidentiality with the company before the execution of the (graduation) internship starts, i.e. during the application process. If the company cannot agree to our arrangement for confidentiality, consideration may be given to signing a confidentiality agreement from the company. For this purpose, contact can be made through the internship or graduate coordinator with the legal counsel to have a ruling made as to whether the relevant confidentiality agreement may be signed. If the company's confidentiality agreement contains objectionable or unreasonable provisions and the company is not open to modification, the (graduation) internship may not be able to proceed. This page also provides information on confidentiality surrounding graduate work (theses or portfolios) as well as confidential data storage and forms associated with the arrangement.

The use of our own confidentiality statements is the starting point. This way we can be sure that our students and colleagues are not signing anything that could be incriminating to them.

We have several confidentiality statements prepared for different situations:

• Confidentiality statement for internship.
• Confidentiality declaration for graduation.
• Confidentiality statement for projects
• Confidentiality statement for external expert.

• In all cases, the thesis work digital submission.
• Before the execution of the final assignment begins, the student discusses with the company whether there will be any confidential information in the final assignment.
• If there will be confidential information then a confidentiality agreement (from Fontys ICT or after agreement from the company) will be signed. Fontys ICT employees and students of Fontys ICT conform to this declaration and the agreed confidentiality obligation.
• External experts for Fontys ICT sign a one-time declaration of confidentiality that applies to all thesis work in which they are involved.

If the thesis work is confidential:

1. it will not be published in the HBO Kennisbank ¹⁾;
2. one digital copy is digitally archived and only accessed on a confidential basis if the study programme has to meet a legal accountability requirement, e.g. accreditation;
3. the graduation session is also held in private unless permission is given by the company that the session may be held publicly if no confidential data is shared.
4. all those involved in the student's assessment are expected to destroy all paper and digital versions in their possession immediately after the session. The chairman will remind all involved of this responsibility at the conclusion of the session.

If the thesis work is not confidential, the above restrictions do not apply.

Confidential graduation papers:

1. are kept for 7 years, the infrastructure guarantees this period;
2. are destroyed immediately upon expiration of the retention periods;
3. are stored securely during the retention periods, accessible only to administrators designated by Fontys ICT for this purpose;
4. serve solely as additional evidence in the assessment of the final level achieved as part of a legal obligation of the study programme to account for it, e.g. accreditation, and are shown only and exclusively upon explicit request to authorized people appointed by a legally empowered body for the assessment of the study programme;
5. no other use than that referred to and described above will be permitted by Fontys ICT.
6. there are organisations that do not want their business-sensitive information stored in our Content Manager, because this information is not encrypted. In most cases, the portfolio can be made so that the most company-sensitive information can be left out. The company can agree with the student and 1st assessor what may or may not end up in the portfolio.

If the Accreditation Committee wishes to inspect graduation works marked as confidential, the committee may request disclosure of confidential data using the form below:

• Request for disclosure of confidential data. This form is completed to request Fontys ICT access to data - marked confidential by Fontys ICT. Permission to inspect will only be granted conditionally. The conditions can be found in the form.