UNIVERSITY HAS UNQUESTIONABLE RIGHT TO AWARD DEGREES

DUTY OF CARE BY UNIVERSITY TO STUDENT

DUTY OF CARE BY UNIVERSITY TO STUDENT

Victor v. F.U.T.A. (2026) 8 NWLR (Pt. 2044) 33 at 53, A—H: ‘The scope of the University’s duty of care include academic, administrative, and pastoral duty of care. To discharge the academic duty of care, the university must provide competent teaching and supervision, thus ensuring that staff are qualified and adequately support students’ academic progress; design fair and transparent assessment systems which includes clear marking criteria, reasonable deadlines, access to appeals processes; provide accurate and sufficient academic information e.g., about course content, prerequisites, or progression requirements; act fairly in academic decision-making – avoiding bias, discrimination, or arbitrary grading and handle academic misconduct and disciplinary issues justly – following due process and institutional regulations. To discharge both administrative and procedural duty of care, the university is obliged to process student records, appeals, and complaints correctly and within reasonable time frames; ensure that academic policies are accessible, consistent, and applied fairly. To discharge pastoral and welfare duty of care, the university must consider how academic decisions may impact student welfare. The best practices all over the world even though this is not strictly “academic” is that the university must provide access to support services (counselling, disability services, learning support etc); take reasonable steps to protect vulnerable students from foreseeable harm (e.g., stress, harassment, or discrimination); offer adjustments or accommodations for disabilities or health conditions. As stated earlier, there is no doubt that the courts in Nigeria have long recognized the duty of care owed by the university authorities to its students even though never expressly articulated as a duty in tort as opposed to contract. Case law is replete with examples of the disposition of the courts.’