London: A former student of Oxford University, believed to be of Indian-origin, has sued the prestigious institution for one million pounds after 17 years, claiming that "inadequate" teaching has faded his opportunities in the job market.
Faiz Siddiqui claims he received "inadequate" teaching on his specialist subject course on Indian imperial history, which led to him getting a 2:1 back in 2000.
The 39-year-old, who studied modern history at Brasenose College, said the second-class degree meant a loss of earnings in his future career as a lawyer. "Whilst a 2:1 degree from Oxford might rightly seem like a tremendous achievement to most, it fell significantly short of Mr Siddiqui's expectations and was, to him, a huge disappointment," his lawyer Roger Mallalieu told the High Court at an ongoing hearing this week.
"Siddiqui has been badly let down by Oxford. He went there with high perhaps extraordinarily high expectations," he said. Siddiqui claims he was the "victim of poor teaching" due to staff being absent on sabbatical leave.
He also alleges that medical information about his clinical depression and insomnia was not submitted to the examiners by his personal tutor. He went on to work at some leading law and accountancy firms in the UK but has been unemployed for a few years. Oxford University denies negligence and believes the case was brought "massively" outside the legal time limit.