University students' right to fair trial: how adequate is legal protection?

The right to fair trial of a student who is standing trial before disciplinary committee either for disciplinary or for academic violation is born out of his academic freedom, which stipulates that he may not lose his enrolment as a student except he has been tried before a panel. The laudable comprehensive provisions of international and regional instruments, as captured in the constitution of a state are not so replicated in the rules and regulations of most universities. On account of this, universities are able to treat compliance with the rules of natural justice as optional rather than obligatory. The law courts are supposed to be the last hope of the students; most of the students however, do not have access to the courts. For those who have access, the courts are most times not helpful. They are enmeshed in the volume of cases before them, leading to delay in justice dispensation and eventually, denial of fair trial rights.