Oxford graduate loses £1m claim against University

  9th February 2018

If you get a 2:1 instead of the desired First, and as a result have to consider alternative career paths, can you sue the University for negligent teaching?  The High Court ruled not in a long-awaited judgment given earlier this week.

The claim related to a graduate from 2000 who, he claimed, failed to get a First due to inadequate teaching and pastoral support whilst at Oxford University. He said this prevented him from entering Harvard Law School so claimed £1 million in damages for the lost opportunity to become an international commercial lawyer.

In coming to his decision, the judge said that there was no evidence that the teaching had been undertaken in a negligent manner or that any inadequacies in the teaching directly resulted in the low result attained by the claimant in a contended examination.

The summary of judgment is available to read here: https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/siddiqui-summary.pdf