A student claiming racial discrimination against Oxford University was victimised by his tutor who displayed "coarse and outrageous racism", a court was told yesterday.
Nadeem Ahmed, 31, is suing the university after he failed what he claims was a flawed examination while studying for a master's degree in medieval Arabic philosophy. Mr Ahmed's barrister, Karen Monaghan, told Reading County Court her client, an experienced Arabic language student, had been asked to leave the course after failing an exam that a fellow female white student with no experience of Arabic had passed.
It is also alleged that the course tutor Dr Friedrich Zimmermann insulted Mr Ahmed calling him dyslexic and questioning his use of basic English.
Mr Ahmed's personal tutor, Tom Paulin, the poet and BBC2 arts reviewer, supports his student's claim against the university and is expected to give evidence later in the hearing.
Ms Monaghan said the university had broken its own rules because there was no proper exam marking, no set pass mark, no invigilation and no copies of the papers made before they were returned to the students.
Mr Ahmed, who is of Indian-Pakistani origin, was one of three students sitting an informal examination as part of his M.Phil in medieval Arabic thought. A 2:1 university graduate with a background in teaching Arabic, Mr Ahmed was initially told he would not be tested on his knowledge of the language.
But he was later informed by Dr Zimmermann he would have to sit the exam. After he had complained about the exam result and the lack of proper supervision and marking, he became increasingly victimised by Dr Zimmermann, said Ms Monaghan.
"The faculty of Oriental studies then effectively closed ranks and far from easing the situation, made it much worse," she told the court. She said Dr Zimmermann "had expressed very considerable hostility to the claimant in particular from the outset". Mr Ahmed was asked to re-sit the examinations while the other two students were not. On no occasion was he given a clear reason as to why he failed.
The case continues.