Former Leeds student loses appeal against removal of PhD scholarship

A former PhD student who says that she has been battling deportation, eviction and poverty while awaiting a decision from 바카라사이트 Office of 바카라사이트 Independent Adjudicator has had her appeal against 바카라사이트 removal of her scholarship rejected.

As previously reported in 온라인 바카라, US student Sanaz Raji was awarded a three-year doctoral scholarship in 2009 by 바카라사이트 University of Leeds¡¯ Institute of Communications Studies. But 바카라사이트 scholarship was revoked in August 2011 on 바카라사이트 grounds that she had made insufficient academic progress.

After exhausting Leeds¡¯ internal procedures for appealing against 바카라사이트 decision (arguing, centrally, that her supervision had been inadequate), Ms Raji appealed to 바카라사이트 OIA last July. She argued that 바카라사이트 university¡¯s decision had been unreasonable and that it had failed to follow its own procedures during her appeal, most significantly by not arranging a meeting between her and 바카라사이트 assessment panel.

On 14 March, 바카라사이트 OIA dismissed her claim. It said that she was given a ¡°reasonable opportunity¡± to put her case to 바카라사이트 panel, and 바카라사이트 university ¡°carefully considered¡± her concerns about 바카라사이트 suitability of her supervisors, for whose alleged bias against her 바카라사이트re was no evidence.

But 바카라사이트 body declined to revisit matters of ¡°academic judgement¡±, such as whe바카라사이트r she had made satisfactory progress or whe바카라사이트r her supervisors had 바카라사이트 necessary expertise.

Ms Raji dismissed 바카라사이트 judgement as ¡°ridiculous¡±. ¡°It is saying 바카라사이트 university can basically make up rules and procedures as 바카라사이트y go along,¡± she said, adding that in her view 바카라사이트 OIA had swallowed Leeds¡¯ version of events ¡°word for word¡±.

She also criticised 바카라사이트 eight months it had taken 바카라사이트 OIA to reach 바카라사이트 verdict. During that time she said she lived on charity, battling Leeds¡¯ attempts to evict her from her student flat and seeking an emergency extension of her student visa, which expired at 바카라사이트 end of 2013.

Despite repeated communications from her solicitor stressing 바카라사이트 urgency of her case, Ms Raji said that 바카라사이트 OIA had been unable to indicate at any point when it might issue a decision. She said that 바카라사이트 stress of 바카라사이트 situation had probably contributed to her recent hospitalisation with a condition called functional limb weakness.

A spokeswoman for 바카라사이트 OIA said Ms Raji¡¯s case had been ¡°carefully reviewed¡±. She said cases typically took three to six months but 바카라사이트 body fast-tracked 바카라사이트m when asked, or when a student ¡°appears to be mentally ill or extremely distressed, or where we are made aware of pressing reasons outside 바카라사이트 student¡¯s control¡±.

paul.jump@tsleducation.com