External Companies
You may do your degree project in collaboration with an external company.
External Relations at LNU
The Office of External Relations works with development and strengthening of relations between the university and our surrounding society; regionally, nationally and internationally.
Advice to students who want to contact companies (Swedish)
Interview with Helena Belfrage from External Relations Video on contacting external companies
Company Mentor
You need a company mentor for guiding you in doing the task the company has set out for you, and to explain how the company’s systems work in case you need to access them.
However, this mentor is NOT your thesis supervisor. You will have a designated supervisor from Linnaeus University for guiding you through your thesis work.
Company and university requirements
It is important to think about the requirements when doing a project at an external company. Companies usually want students to implement something, for example creating a prototype for a new idea or testing a new framework.
Companies seldom have the appropriate understanding of the research part of a degree project, which is a requirement from the university.
It is important that the company is thoroughly informed that you are doing a small research project, and the university requirements. Ask your university supervisor, or course coordinator for guidance if you run into problems.
Travel expenses
You cannot get any financial support from the university for travels to and from the company.
Non-disclosure Agreement
Companies generally don’t want to share company secrets with outsiders. To be sure that you don’t reveal any sensitive information they can ask you to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). This is often not a problem, but be sure to carefully read the NDA so you know what you sign up for!
It might be the case that the company also wants the supervisor to sign the NDA. It is up to the supervisor to decide to sign, or not.
- The thesis should not contain sensitive information, since it will be published in DiVA.
- Supervisors and examiners must have access to the full contents of the thesis.
- All sensitive information must be anonymized before publication
Ownership
The code and artifacts produced by the student are jointly owned by the student and the company. Any other code or resources used in the project retain the same ownership as before the project’s completion. This applies even if the company develops code or other resources for the project. In such cases, the company continues to have sole ownership of that part of the project.
