The public good of universities to students dictates that universities bear the ethical duty of care towards their own students. It will be impractical to expect universities to carry universal care of duty. The ethics of the duty to care are confined within the legal framework and institutional obligations as defined in their policies. Universities are required to ensure student wellness, fair student disciplinary processes and procedures, safety, and fair treatment. Students must be protected from harassment, discriminatory practices, and/or exploitative tendencies. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa establishes non-negotiable values for all South Africans, including equality, dignity, and safety. The Higher Education Act, as amended, provides similar guidelines.
Reasonable provision of safety for students in all spaces, universities’ control, not necessarily their own, including medical and/or emergency medical care. This also covers risk management strategies during violent student protests and campus lockdowns.
The main duties of care are the provision of quality, accredited academic qualifications, a conducive learning and teaching environment, assurance that their qualifications are not compromised by academic dishonesty or fake qualifications, and the availability of competent, qualified academic and non-academic staff.
Universities’ executive management is obliged to act ethically in the discharge of their fiduciary duties. Transparency and acting in the best interest of the students and society are mandatory obligations. Their failure to address allegations or occurrences of instability or corruption is a breach of their fiduciary duties.
It must be noted that the ethics of duty to care may be a contested terrain when it comes to striking a balance in managing violent and destructive student protests, especially if the university could have prevented the damage or violence. The question is whether universities use preventive measures to detect and manage such risks. Are universities parents, or should parents take responsibility for their students’ good behaviour while they are away from home?
Where institutions are collapsing and/or declining due to endless leadership instability and crises, the ethical duty to care has lapsed from university executive management and university councils. This will just become a dysfunctionality within the universities and a failure of the duty to care for the universities’ existence. The Vice Chancellors and the Councils will have violated the duty to care when governance collapses.
The duty to care is a responsibility of all stakeholders at universities; perfection is not the standard, but they will be judged by the reasonableness of their actions or inability to act.
By
Dr Sefoko Ramoshaba
www.sjli.co.za
0647092097
3 Comments
Your article raises a critical point. Some of us witness daily how unmet basic needs like hunger, hygiene, dignity, directly sabotage academic performance. Universities cannot claim academic excellence while students suffer in silence. Duty of care isn’t charity, it’s infrastructure for learning. A hungry, undignified student cannot excel. Institutions must own this responsibility unconditionally.
Honestly, I think universities should care more about students beyond academics.
A lot of students go through stress, financial struggles and personal challenges while trying to succeed.
Sometimes people only focus on marks and forget the pressure students face daily.
Having proper support and a safe environment can really make a difference.
Students perform better when they feel heard, supported and understood.
At the end of the day, universities should help students grow both academically and personally.
Support must go beyond academics and also put more emphasis on psycho-social support to students.