In a nutshell

Blacklisted university:	The Opus Dei's University of Navarra
Victimised student:	Nick Balhara Dalal
Student's last advocate:	Spain's top advocate & India's Padma Shri award winner, Hon. Dr. Rafael Iruzubieta
OUTCOME OF DISPUTE: (SUMMER OF 2012)	There are two types of lawyers. Those who know the laws, and those who know the Judge. Here, the latter comprise a huge majority of them! So, my esteemed lawyer didn't file any case and advised me to take it easy and have fun by continuing with this online protest.

 

Pic: Student protests in Madrid. The message reads: "If you don't let us dream, we won't let you sleep."

CASE SUMMARY

CASE-I: FRAUD OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAVARRA

• The Dean of the Faculty of Communication (FCOM), secured a degree M.Sc. Media Management from University of Stirling (UK) before working as the Dean at the University of Navarra (UNAV)

• The University of Navarra never offered a course in Media Management but when the aforementioned Dean worked at UNAV, I came to know from the website of UNAV about the master's MSc Media Management offered by the FCOM in the the UNAV campus in Pamplona for the academic year 2008-2009. However, the FCOM advertised that the internships under this programme would be in Spanish language.

• I applied for admission to MSc Media Management in the month of March 2008. My professor at JNU, one of the world's top universities, also recommended me for MSc Media Management. I successfully passed the online exam and the interview through Skype®, both of which were held entirely in English from New Delhi, India.

• Five days before the Masters and after my arrival to Spain, I was informed that it was not possible to hire professors who could teach a master's in English and therefore I would have to do its Spanish version i.e. Máster en Gestión de Empresas de Comunicación instead of the MSc Media Management. In other words, we had the entire course in Spanish except for a total of 5 days' classes in English! Nothing could perhaps be more shameful than this for a private University, belonging to a religious sect called Opus Dei.

• After I expressed my desire to return to India the same moment, the Faculty of Communication told me that the amount already paid as fees was not refundable, nor gave me the option of taking the course in English after translating the reading material to make it easier for me, nor allowed me to defer my admission for a year until I could learn more Spanish. However, the original material that the FCOM had borrowed from the Harvard University was in English, but I was arbitrarily supplied the Spanish translation of that material.

• Therefore, I was forced to enroll in the Máster en Gestión de Empresas de Comunicación and started to attend the classes w.e.f. first day of the master's, but after starting to attend classes from October 1, 2008 I also lodged a complaint in the Administrative Branch of UNAV against the conduct of FCOM.

• The Administrative Branch of UNAV only forced the FCOM to charge me only the fees as advertised for the MSc Media Management (9600 €) instead of the fees of Máster en Gestión de Empresas de Comunicación (11000 €).

• After my this complaint, the Faculty of Communication began to discriminate against me.

•Top

CASE-II: DISCRIMINATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAVARRA

• In January 2009 I was told I wouldn't have the opportunity to do internships (which were an integral part of the master as per Spanish Law on degrees categorised as Official Masters) because I 'failed in 2 subjects', although Spanish law says that any student undergoing an Official Master enjoys guarantee of pursuing internships (and the Master en Gestión de Empresas de Comunicación is an Official Master with registration nº MO 2006-00954). Likewise, the Spanish Law provides that even in cases when the degree is not categorised as Official Master, the students enjoy the right to undergo internship if they do not fail in more than 50% of the credits. (An Official Master degree is different in that it is recognised in all the countries of the European Union.)

• Similarly, the FCOM gave me no chance to repeat the courses in which I was suspended although the curriculum calls for a re-exam within 15 days of receiving a failure in a given paper.

• The FCOM reduced my grades in 3 subjects with no sense. I complained to the Vice-Chancellor of UNAV against this entire conduct of the FCOM. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor for academic affairs of UNAV replied that complaint and only directed the FCOM to correct my grades.

• The master's plan says that if you have more than one teacher for a subject, the final grade will be the average of all professors who teach it. But I was suspended in the entire course of Marketing on February 17 which means that I was suspended 10 days before I had classes with the second professor of Marketing, Prof. Juan Caño.

• I was prohibited to attend classes March 2, 2009 onwards. I was told I had to stop attending classes from March 2 after having "failed" (arbitrarily & illegally) in a total of 4 subjects. But there is no rule or regulation that bans attending classes before completing the course when a student is enrolled in a master's program that envisages six months of classes from October 1 to March 25 and then 3-month internship from April 1 to June 30. Moreover, the University rules lay down that a student can seek jobs by contacting various companies that collaborate with the University until 3 years after he leaves the University. But the University has prohibited me from taking part in that service, that other students enjoy and can access through their usernames on the University website.

Continued...