And it gets worse…….
An Oxford graduate who tried to sue the university for ‘appallingly bad’ teaching that cost him a top degree and lucrative legal career has had his £1million compensation claim thrown out.
Faiz Siddiqui, 39, was today told by a High Court judge the tuition he received at Brazenose College was of a ‘perfectly adequate standard’ and his failure to get a first class degree was more likely to do with a severe bout of hay fever.
Mr Siddiqui had claimed ‘boring’ tuition and staff being on extended sabbatical leave had meant he only got a lower 2:1 instead of the higher upper second or first he was hoping for.
He maintained this cost him a place on a law course at a top Ivy League university like Yale or Harvard and subsequent high-flying legal career.
But today Mr Justice Foskett ruled Mr Siddiqui’s ‘inadequate preparation’ and ‘lack of academic discipline’ towards his modern history degree were the reasons he under performed in his June 2000 exams.
The university admitted it had ‘difficulties’ teaching students like Mr Siddiqui who specialised in Asian history during his final year – because more than half of the faculty teaching staff were on sabbatical leave at the same time.
And Mr Siddiqui said the standard of tuition he received from Professor David Washbrook suffered badly as a result of the ‘intolerable’ pressure he was under, the court heard.
But the judge described Professor Washbrook as ‘an excellent teacher’ who manfully ‘put his shoulder to the wheel’ to make up for staff shortages.
