PhD student sues Cambridge University for failing to get PhD

(Dan Tri) - Jacob Meagher, a law student, has just filed a lawsuit against Cambridge University (UK) for the second time, because he believes he was discriminated against during the exam process.

PhD student Jacob Meagher claims he was unfairly rejected from defending his dissertation. Meagher claims the school’s decision has left him with a lot of damage and prevented him from getting the job he wanted.

Before that, Meagher had received an invitation to cooperate in a job that brought him many promises in his career.

PhD student Jacob Meagher (Photo: Daily Mail).

Meagher failed the final examination in her doctoral thesis defence, an oral examination commonly referred to by Cambridge University postgraduates as the "viva voce" examination.

Meagher said he had some personal issues, some congenital disabilities that prevented him from performing as well as many other PhD students. However, Meagher said he deserved the school to provide him with alternative testing methods, so that he could defend his thesis in a way that suited his personal abilities.

Meagher filed a lawsuit against the University of Cambridge and five of its lecturers in March 2024, nearly a year after Meagher received the results of her doctoral thesis.

According to information provided to a British court, Cambridge University considers awarding a doctorate to a doctoral student based on a 100,000-word thesis and an oral exam revolving around this thesis.

On April 26, 2023, the school officially announced the results of Meagher’s doctoral thesis defense. The school decided not to award Meagher a doctoral degree. However, Meagher could review his thesis, make changes, and resubmit it.

In his lawsuit, Mr. Meagher argued that even while working on his doctoral dissertation, he encountered some personal problems. Meagher argued that he did not have the same ability as many other doctoral students, and that he had difficulty in doing a long dissertation that dealt with many aspects of content.

According to Meagher, Cambridge University should have offered him the opportunity to gain his PhD using more flexible assessment methods, rather than applying a single assessment method to all PhD students.

A corner of the campus at Cambridge University (Photo: The Telegraph).

Before Meagher took the "viva voce" oral exam, the University of Cambridge's Disability Resource Centre (DRC) made a number of recommendations, so that the oral exam team members had some guidance on how to interact appropriately with Meagher.

Some of the guidelines offered by this center include asking very specific questions instead of "general" questions, using active verbs instead of passive ones.

The interviewers also needed to pay attention to their tone of voice. They also needed to make sure Meagher had enough time between questions to regain his composure and reorganize his words and information during the interview.

Meagher said he suffered serious health problems after taking the oral exam. When he first brought the matter to court in early 2024, the court dismissed his lawsuit.

Meagher disagreed with the court's decision and continued the litigation. Now the case is back before the court for review.

The school initially allowed him to resubmit his thesis, but later changed its mind and he was no longer able to resubmit his thesis.

According to Mr Meagher, a new decision has been made at the school that they will not reconsider his PhD defence until the case is resolved.

Currently, Mr. Meagher's lawsuit is attracting quite a lot of attention, information about the lawsuit will continue to be updated by the British press.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nghien-cuu-sinh-kien-dai-hoc-cambridge-vi-khong-do-tien-si-20250116145406921.htm