Oxford graduate who sued over his 2:1 loses High Court battle

Mr Siddiqui attended Branenose College at Oxford University
PA
Robin de Peyer7 February 2018

An Oxford graduate who sued the university over his failure to land a top degree has had his £1 million compensation claim dismissed by the High Court.

Faiz Siddiqui complained he only attained a 2:1 mark when he graduated in 2000 because of “inadequate teaching” which he claimed was negligent.

He launched a court claim after saying his degree grade had a "marked deleterious effect" on his subsequent career. Mr Siddiqui alleged that the mark had cost him a place at a top US law school and hindered his subsequent earnings.

But Mr Justice Foskett ruled against the claimant, of Bayswater, west London, after deciding that the "delivery" of part of a history course in 1999-2000 was not "negligently inadequate".

He said that while the quality of education will undoubtedly come under greater scrutiny as students run up debt, litigation is costly and "fraught with difficulty".

Mr Justice Foskett said: "Whilst it cannot be said that some aspect of a person's education - inadequately delivered - can never be the cause of that person's failure to achieve some otherwise attainable objective, the hurdles in establishing a claim for compensation based upon that inadequate delivery are great and often insurmountable.

"In this case, I have not been satisfied that the delivery of one particular feature of the claimant's undergraduate degree course was inadequate or, in any event, that it had the consequences claimed for it."

Mr Justice Foskett published a ruling on Wednesday after analysing Mr Siddiqui's claim at a High Court trial in London in November.

The "Chancellor, Masters & Scholars of the University of Oxford" had disputed the claim and said it should be dismissed.

In his ruling, the judge explains how Mr Siddiqui, who was 39 at the time of the trial and obtained a 2:1 after studying at Brasenose College, had worked for a number of law firms after leaving university.

Mr Siddiqui said he would have gone on to become an international commercial lawyer if he had obtained a First.

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