An Indian PhD student has accused the University of Oxford of transferring her to a master’s course against her will, describing the experience as “betrayal.” 

Lakshmi Balakrishnan, who hails from Tamil Nadu, invested nearly £100,000 (around Rs 1.09 crore) in her education and living expenses at the institution, where she aimed to pursue her doctoral studies in English literature, reported the BBC.

Ms Balakrishnan said that the English faculty has “not acted in good faith” after initially accepting her thesis proposal at both the application stage and during her first year. Later, the faculty rejected her research idea in her fourth year, she claimed.

“They forcibly removed me from the PhD program and moved me to a masters level course without my consent. I feel a sense of betrayal and I feel like I have been let down by an institution that I held in high regard. I already have two masters degrees from India and I paid £100,000 at Oxford to get my PhD, not another masters course,” the BBC quoted Balakrishnan as saying.

Raised in south India by her father after losing her mother at a young age, Lakshmi Balakrishnan said she was the first member of her family to study abroad, overcoming significant challenges to enrol at Oxford. “I hail from an underprivileged background, I made immense sacrifices to come and study at Oxford,” she said.

During her fourth year, Ms Balakrishnan underwent an assessment where two different assessors deemed her Shakespeare research insufficient for PhD-level study. She contested the faculty’s decision and entered an appeals process but reported that her efforts were unsuccessful. “I believe that the university’s strategy is to force me to wade through endless appeals and complaints procedures in the hope that I will eventually give up and go,” she claimed.

The appeals process has now concluded, with Oxford University stating that, “To achieve Confirmation of Status, progress must sufficiently demonstrate a strong likelihood of successful completion of a doctoral thesis.”

The Queen’s College, where Ms Balakrishnan was enrolled, has expressed concern regarding her treatment. The college noted that while she failed two assessments, there were no serious concerns highlighted in her term reports. In addition, two Shakespeare scholars have endorsed her research, stating it has the potential for a PhD, stated the BBC report.

Despite these endorsements, the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) supported the university’s stance.