It was hayfever! Oxford graduate loses £1m case
A GRADUATE who sued Oxford University for not gaining a first class degree has had his claim thrown out.
Faiz Siddiqui had complained that his tuition at Brasenose College was ‘appallingly bad’ and had ruined his chances of becoming a top international commercial lawyer.
He was seeking £1million from the university for loss of earnings. But Mr Justice Foskett ruled at the High Court that the tuition was of ‘ a perfectly adequate standard’ and his failure to get a first may have been down to a severe bout of hay fever.
The modern history graduate, from Bayswater, West London, claimed that had he won a first, he would have moved on to Yale, Harvard, or another top US university, before becoming a lawyer.
But Mr Siddiqui, who graduated in June 2000, claimed his low 2:1 degree put paid to his hopes and had blighted his career.
The university admitted it had ‘difficulties’ teaching students of Asian history in Mr Siddiqui’s final year because more than half of the faculty teaching staff had been on sabbatical leave.
Mr Siddiqui, 39, said the standard of tuition he received from Professor David Washbrook suffered badly as a result of the ‘intolerable’ pressure the eminent historian was under. But the judge described Professor Washbrook as ‘an excellent teacher’ who manfully ‘put his shoulder to the wheel’ to make up for the staffing crisis.
The judge said Mr Siddiqui’s poor result in one paper was more likely to have been caused by his own ‘inadequate preparation’, a ‘lack of academic discipline’ or his ‘ general anxiety about taking exams’.
He added a severe episode of hayfever may also have contributed to his failure to achieve the grade he wanted.
The judge also rejected claims that Mr Siddiqui’s personal tutor at Brasenose had failed to alert the examination authorities that he was suffering from insomnia, depression and anxiety when he sat the paper on the history of imperial India.
While expressing sympathy for Mr Siddiqui’s intermittent bouts of severe depression, the judge said there was no evidence that he was suffering from mental health problems when he took his final exams.
Mr Justice Foskett said there were ‘other reasons’ for the graduate’s inability to hold down various jobs since university, adding: ‘It is to be hoped that he can refocus, perhaps lower his expectations at least for the time-being and start using his undoubted intelligence to create a worthwhile future for himself.’