My university requires unrestricted access to my personal laptop. What should I do? I am not sure that Academia is the right place to post this, as it would probably be better suited for Law.se.

I am a student in Italy. My university requires unrestricted access to my personal computer for an afternoon to install a certain software. I obviously have security concerns, so I have contacted the responsible for my course to know if I could be given the key to install such software personally. He has explicitly stated that there are no alternatives to the standard process of giving in my computer to the tech department for one afternoon.

On one side am reluctant to give unrestricted access to my computer for security reasons, as I have personal files stored on my machine; on the other side I need to have access to such software because it is required for a course in the future.

Is such a request even legal or a common request in academia? How can I avoid giving unrestricted access to my personal machine while still obtaining this software?
My university requires unrestricted access to my personal computer for an afternoon to install a certain software.


Your university has messed up. Are you really sure that it's the university requiring this? Maybe it's the isolated action of your professor, in agreement with their department IT (not the university one).


  He has explicitly stated that there are no alternatives to the standard process of giving in my computer to the tech department for one afternoon.


I've never, ever seen an academic software licence requiring such a procedure.


  On one side am reluctant to give unrestricted access to my computer for security reasons


You're rightly reluctant.


  How can I avoid giving unrestricted access to my personal machine while still obtaining this software?


First, contact your course mates to start a collective action. I suggest you to write an email, signed by all students, to the dean supervising the courses of your field, the head of the department to which your professor belongs to, and, if there is one, the head of the IT university service. Copy the email to the rector too. Express clearly your concerns and state that is totally unacceptable to require students to give access to their personal computers. If your university insists on this position, ask them a copy of the licence agreement.