Court clears Oxford of discrimination claims

Oxford University did not discriminate against postgraduate student Nadeem Ahmed despite making him sit "flawed" exams that were open to abuse, a court has ruled.

Mr Ahmed, 34, said his supervisor, Fritz Zimmerman, had made racist remarks to him and had unfairly blocked his progress on an MPhil course after he failed an informal Arabic language exam when a less experienced white linguist passed.

But at Reading Crown Court this week, Judge Jonathan Playford QC found that even though the exam had no pass mark, was not second-marked and was not properly invigilated, there was insufficient grounds and not enough evidence to prove discrimination. He said he found it very hard to believe that Dr Zimmerman would be racist.

Mr Ahmed, who said he was "flabbergasted", may appeal.