An Indian PhD student who paid over one crore to Oxford University for a doctorate in English was "forcibly removed" and shifted to a master's course in her fourth year without her consent. The name of the student is Lakshmi Balakrishnan who is a resident of Tamil Nadu. She spent around Rs 1.09 crore on her education and living expenses at the institution.
She said the English faculty has 'not acted in good faith' after initially accepting her thesis during the application procedure and her first year. Later, they rejected her research idea in the fourth year of her research, she claimed.
She said, ''They forcibly removed me from the PhD program and moved me to a masters level course without my consent. I feel a sense of betrayal and I feel like I have been let down by an institution that I held in high regard. I already have two master's degrees from India and I paid £100,000 at Oxford to get my PhD, not another master's course,” reported BBC.
First of her family to study abroad
At a young age, Balakrishnan lost her mother, and she was raised by her father in South India. Expressing her situation, she said, she comes from an underprivileged background and was the first member of her family to study aboard. She made sacrifices to come and study at Oxford.
Research reviewed by two septate assessors
The Shakespeare research of Ms. Balakrishnan was reviewed by two different assessors, and it was rated insufficient for PhD-level study during her fourth year of study. She challenged the faculty's decision and filed an appeal but she said that her efforts were unsuccessful. She asserted, ''I think the university's strategy is to make me through a never-ending appeals and complaints procedures in the hopes that I will eventually give up and go''.
The appeals process is now over, and according to the varsity, "Progress must sufficiently demonstrate a strong likelihood of successful completion of a doctoral thesis in order to achieve Confirmation of Status."
Concerns about Balakrishnan treatment have been raised by Queen's College, where she was a student. The college pointed out that she failed two assessments, and there were no serious concerns highlighted in her term reports. In addition, two Shakespeare scholars have endorsed her research, stating it has the potential for a PhD, according to the BBC report.
