Close X
Friday, November 29, 2024
ADVT 
International

Oxford University To Face Indian-Origin Student's Trial Over 'Appallingly Bad' Teaching Allegations

IANS, 23 Jan, 2017 11:50 AM
    In a landmark ruling, the UK Supreme Court has ordered Oxford University to stand trial after an Indian-origin student filed a 1 million pound ($1,245,100) compensation claim saying "appalling bad and boring tuition" in the varsity resulted in him getting a second class degree, a newspaper here reported.
     
    Faiz Siddiqui, a modern history graduate, says he would have enjoyed a career as a top international commercial lawyer had he not been held back for obtaining a 2:1 grade when graduating in June 2000, reported the Daily Mail on Sunday.
     
    He later trained as a solicitor, but says his life and career have been blighted by his failure to obtain a first class degree while at the university's Brasenose College.
     
    The 38-year-old is suing Oxford University saying the tuition he received was "negligent", especially on a specialist subject course on Indian imperial history during his final year.
     
    The university then applied to the high court to strike out the claim branding it "hopelessly bad" and "time barred'.
     
    But in a newly-released 18-page judgement, Justice Brian Francis Kerr ruled that the university has a case to answer and that a trial should take "as soon as possible."
     
     
    And if Siddiqui's case is successful, it could pave the way for thousands of other students to launch similar claims about universities up and down the country, with many of them charging large amount of money in tuition fees.
     
    Professor Alan Smithers, education expert at Buckingham University said: "In the past, universities have been quite cavalier about the quality of their teaching. If Siddiqui wins, it will open the door to other students who do not think they got the degree they deserved because of issues about the teaching they received."
     
    At a previous hearing, the university admitted that it had "difficulties" teaching Asian history in the year Siddiqui graduated, because more than half of the faculty teaching staff were on sabbatical leave at the same time.
     
    Siddiqui said the standard of tuition he received suffered as a result of the "intolerable" pressure the "eminent historian" was under.
     
    As a result of which, Siddiqui said he "underachieved significantly", causing his overall course grade to bomb.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Suspect In Istanbul Club Attack Who Killed 39 Still At Large

    Suspect In Istanbul Club Attack Who Killed 39 Still At Large
    A manhunt stretched on in Turkey Sunday for an assailant who unleashed a salvo of bullets in front of and inside a crowded Istanbul nightclub during New Year's celebrations, killing at least 39 people before fleeing.

    Suspect In Istanbul Club Attack Who Killed 39 Still At Large

    Muslim Taxi Driver Beaten By Drunk Woman, Accomplice In UK

    Muslim Taxi Driver Beaten By Drunk Woman, Accomplice In UK
    A Muslim taxi driver in the UK was thrashed and punched by a drunk woman and her accomplice with a passerby filming the "horrific incident" and uploading it on social media, media reports said.

    Muslim Taxi Driver Beaten By Drunk Woman, Accomplice In UK

    ISIS Plotting Chemical Attack On UK Says A British Minister: Report

    ISIS is plotting mass casualty chemical attacks against Britain, a senior UK minister has warned. Minister in charge of security Ben Wallace said ISIS had used chemical weapons in Syria and Iraq and intelligence chiefs believe it has an "aspiration" to use them in Britain.

    ISIS Plotting Chemical Attack On UK Says A British Minister: Report

    Saskatchewan Has A Problem With Drunk Driving; New Law Aims To Change Culture

    Saskatchewan Has A Problem With Drunk Driving; New Law Aims To Change Culture
    Allan Kerpan's 25-year-old daughter, Danille, was killed on the Thanksgiving weekend in 2014 when a truck going the wrong way collided with her vehicle on Highway 11 near Bladworth, between Regina and Saskatoon.

    Saskatchewan Has A Problem With Drunk Driving; New Law Aims To Change Culture

    World's Highest Bridge Opens In China, Cost $144 Million

    World's Highest Bridge Opens In China, Cost $144 Million
    The world's highest bridge has opened to traffic in China, connecting two provinces in the mountainous southwest and reducing travel times by as much as three-quarters, local authorities said on Friday.

    World's Highest Bridge Opens In China, Cost $144 Million

    Toronto Sisters Jyoti And Kiran Matheroo Arrested In Nigeria Over Sex Extortion Scandal

    Toronto Sisters Jyoti And Kiran Matheroo Arrested In Nigeria Over Sex Extortion Scandal
    Jyoti and Kiran Matharoo are accused of attempting to extort money from wealthy Nigerian men.

    Toronto Sisters Jyoti And Kiran Matheroo Arrested In Nigeria Over Sex Extortion Scandal