A graduate who sued her university over her “Mickey Mouse” degree has received a \u00a360,000 out-of-court settlement.<\/p>\n
Pok Wong graduated with a first in international business strategy from Anglia Ruskin University in 2013.<\/p>\n
But she claimed the university “exaggerated the prospects of a career” and sued them for false advertising.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Anglia Ruskin University said the settlement was agreed with their insurer’s solicitors, and they did not support it.<\/p>\n
Pok Wong, also known as Fiona, said claims made in the university’s prospectus were untrue.<\/p>\n
She told the BBC in 2018: “They think we’re international students [and] we come here to pay our money for a piece of paper, for the degree.<\/p>\n
“But actually we care about the quality, we care about how much we could learn.<\/p>\n
“They exaggerated the prospects of a career studying with them, and also they exaggerate how connected they are.”<\/p>\n
Last year, the County Court of Central London ruled in the university’s favour and ordered Ms Wong to pay \u00a313,700 of Anglia Ruskin’s legal costs.<\/p>\n
But the university’s insurer’s wrote to the former student, offering to settle her \u00a315,000 claim, plus the payment of her legal costs.<\/p>\n
An Anglia Ruskin University spokesman said Ms Wong’s litigation “has been rejected numerous times and has never been upheld”.<\/p>\n
They said they did not support their insurer’s solicitors decision, adding: “We consider that they acted negligently and against the university’s interests.”<\/p>\n
But Ms Wong wrote on Facebook that, despite the university denying any wrongdoing, “the payout is a proven victory”.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the National Union of Students (NUS) said: “Students do have clear rights under law, and the report of the settlement does indicate a way students can seek recourse.”<\/p>\n
But the spokesperson added that the NUS would prefer students “to be partners in education”, instead of seeking a financial settlement.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"