A Nigerian student , Josephine Lawal , has demanded a refund of the $ 20 , 000 she paid for a failed PhD programme at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, United Kingdom.
Lawal said despite spending over five years in the UK , she was frustrated out of the programme.
She noted that the university management later offered to give her a Master’ s certificate , which she rejected .
PUNCH Metro learnt that the 33 - year - old Ondo State indigene obtained a BSc in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Ilorin in 2007 .
She thereafter attended the Cardiff Metropolitan University and got a Master’ s degree in Business Administration in 2012 .
Lawal enrolled for her PhD the same year at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, where she proposed to research on viral marketing .
According to her , the topic was changed to social media marketing and she was scheduled to end in 2015 .
PUNCH Metro gathered that Lawal ’ s problem began when the supervisor assigned to her , Prof . David Walker , allegedly did not attend to her for one year .
She said after several complaints , she got another supervisor , Dr Sunita Dewitt .
Lawal stated, “ My first year was wasted with no supervisor , which was part of the dilemma of a black student in the United Kingdom, because they will not leave a white student without a supervisor for a whole year .
“ When it became obvious that I would need to renew my visa as the programme dragged to five years , the university did not want to release the Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies that I needed to apply for the visa . I was not the only one affected . My colleagues and I had to fight to renew our visas .
“ After a lot of argument , we showed the management where it was written in the handbook and because of that , they released the CAS for us to apply for our visas . ”
Our correspondent learnt that when Lawal submitted her thesis on December 31 , 2016 , there was no complaint about the research work .
She said because her visa was to run out in 2017 , she pleaded for the viva ( oral examination ) to be arranged on time so that she could return to Nigeria.
She added , “ The viva was not conducted until April 2017 . In the law of research in the UK , you cannot use a lecturer or someone you have put his name down as a supervisor to be an internal or external supervisor for a viva. But guess what ? My first supervisor , who abandoned my work , was brought for the viva. Then the external examiner was late by one hour .
“ They said my work was not up to a PhD standard and I should do corrections and submit it as a Master’ s project . I refused and asked why I could not do major corrections and submit it as a PhD , which was what I bargained for . They refused .
“ I complained and raised issues on the presence of my first supervisor . They later cancelled the viva, having realised their mistake. ”
She noted that six months later , when a second viva held , there was no change in the panel that participated in the first , except for the removal of Walker .
Lawal said her complaints that the panel was already biased towards her project were rebuffed , and she was told that the panel upheld its earlier decision .
The Nigerian said she was asked to write an appeal .
Lawal stated , “ They insisted that I should go and work on it for one year and submit it as a Master’ s programme . I worked on it and submitted it in October 2018 .
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