A college graduate who sued her university over her “Mickey Mouse degree” has received an out-of-court settlement of £60,000 ($77,470).
Pok Wong, 30, graduated in 2013 with an international business strategy degree from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England.
But she accused the university “exaggerated the prospects of a career” and sued them for false advertising, according to the BBC.
Anglia Ruskin said strongly denied the allegations and they did not support their insurer’s solicitors decision but agreed to pay a £15,000 ($19,048) settlement, plus £13,700 ($17,397) of her legal costs.
Subscribe to
NextShark's Newsletter
A daily dose of Asian America's essential stories, in under 5 minutes.
Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories to your inbox daily for free.
Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive.
“We consider that they acted negligently and against the university’s interests,” the university added.
“They think we’re international students [and] we come here to pay our money for a piece of paper, for the degree,” Wong, also known as Fiona, told the TV network in 2018. “But actually we care about the quality, we care about how much we could learn. They exaggerated the prospects of a career studying with them, and also they exaggerate how connected they are.”
“The payout means this is a victory for me, despite the university strenuously fighting my case and denying any responsibility,” the graduate told The Sunday Telegraph. “In light of this settlement, I think universities should be careful about what they say in prospectuses. I think they often make promises which they know will never materialize or are simply not true.”
Wong is not the only former student who complained about their experience at Anglia Ruskin. In a YouTube video posted to Wong’s channel in November 2013, other graduates came forward to talk about their time at the university.
Wong, who now works as a paralegal in Hong Kong, wrote that although the university disputed the allegations, “the payout is a proven victory.”
“Students do have clear rights under law, and the report of the settlement does indicate a way students can seek recourse,” a spokesperson for the National Union of Students (NUS) said.
But they added that the NUS would rather have students “to be partners in education,” instead of seeking compensation.
