User instructions for teachers

These are the basic and brief user instructions for teachers using CSF:   
  1. Most of the general instruction material is on this open website under "The CSF Study Module" 
  2. The courses are on the restricted (closed) site. You can copy this course material to your own educational platforms. Access is given to teachers only in order to limit the number of different learning platforms for students, thus allowing them to concentrate on learning only using familiar tools.
  3. Teachers can access the courses by first contacting the CSF administrator at admin@csf‐studymodule.net. The administrator will send you an invitation.
  4. You can access the courses from "Access to the courses, toolbox and databank" or "The courses, toolbox, databank and access"
  5. The course information section also describes how in which to use the courses: Other information concerns the syllabus, ECTS, cooperation with companies, international aspects, etc.
  6. Once you have accessed the courses, you will also find course-specific teacher instructions, the toolbox and databank - for access see "How to participate"
  7. At this point you are free to provide tasks and material for your students    
Different sections of this public website give further instructions.
However, here is a note about agreements, confidentiality and legal issues:

Agreements, confidentiality, law

NOTE! As with any cooperative endeavour, and especially with legal agreements concerning international cooperation - IPR, ownership of results, confidentiality agreements, and any other legal details, such as which country's laws will be applied, what kind of differences there are in the law and what agreements it is necessary to take into consideration and to agree upon, must be decided upon at the outset. 

Many universities already have agreement templates, and you can consult your institution's solicitor about it. 

When starting the work, make sure you have the agreements made.

Students working on company cases

There are many ways for students to work on company cases. These vary from practical trainee and apprenticeship placements to participating in projects. In some cases, students get ECTS credits for working on company cases - in these cases it is often part of practical training or a specific course. In some cases, students may be paid a small contribution, and in some cases it may be illegal. It may, for example, be against the rules of general fair competition.

This is why you need to check the legal issues, the exact form of cooperation and what exactly will students provide for companies and research cases.


The second important issue to stress is that this is student work, not professional work. Companies must be aware of this and should not invoice for the work as professional work. This should always be communicated to companies at the beginning of the process. 

Another reason why companies should be informed about CSF being student work relates to the outcomes of the projects: the outcomes can be very heterogenic in quality, or there may be no results to be considered at all.