Does anyone know what privileges the application has over a system? Is is only for authentication or does it have access to the system? I just really don't know anything about it and do not like the idea of granting them access to files or even worse admin or root privileges.
I'm not familiar with it nor do I know why uni would ask u to install anything apart for academic purposes, but for that and if u worry, its always possible to install it on a virtual machine (i use Oracle VM VirtualBox) so u'll be basically safe from anything ?
Many places want a NAC (Network Access Client) installed to help them protect their network. These places typically will have a requirement that OS patches are at least somewhat up to date, and up to date antivirus software. What the NAC does is a check of your system to see what AV software is installed, what the latest definitions in use are, what patch level your OS is at, possibly even what is enabled and disabled in your AV and Firewall. The network will typically only allow communication with a small set of hardened hosts until it recieves this information so that if (when) an infected machine is connected to the network, it can't spread the infection via that network.