Is zakat obligatory on a sum of money that has been secured to pay compensation to a university, in order to remove harm from the guarantor, knowing that returning the money to the university will take time?

Zakat is not obligatory on the aforementioned amount due to the lack of stable ownership. This is because the indebted person (gharim) takes zakat to fulfill the need of repaying a debt. If this need is not met, he is obligated to return it. This means that he does not possess full and stable ownership of it. One of the conditions for zakat to be obligatory on wealth is stable ownership. Just as zakat is not obligatory on someone who owns wealth that does not reach the nisab, similarly, it is not obligatory on someone who owns wealth with unstable ownership.