Managing Students’ Records as Corporate Social Responsibility: The Demand for Accessibility and Confidentiality

Abstract

Students’ records are a very important asset to any educational institution since they document and preserve a students’ academic journey and his interface with the institution. They are also vital because provide information about a student’s competencies, skills, and aptitude; thus serving as a vital link to even assess a student’s suitability for work and life. Hence, these records require best practices in managing them. However, a conflict exists between the rights of students to privacy and the needs of the university and/or others to obtain information about them. This conflict is prevalent in institutions of higher learning, and centers on the following issues: what information is obtained? Where it is obtained? Where and how it is kept? Who requests what information to be given? The demand for the disclosure of students’ records by stakeholders and the ethical imperative of confidentiality by record managers sometimes come in conflict. This is even compounded by the legal implications that may arise when privacy is violated. The paper, therefore, design and method of discuss arefocused on the types, description, and location of student’s records, the value of students’ records, some guiding principles of caring for student’s records with a consideration of its level of sensitivity with reviewed literature of university/ government policy governing privacy and disclosure of student information/records. This paper endswith some guidelines in regard to cooperatesocial responsibility in caring and safeguarding the privacy of information and records entrusted to all who handles student’s records. And further conclusion and recommendations by author.