A UNIVERSITY research student has gone on hunger strike claiming she has not been allowed to complete a ten-year project.

Indian-born economics student Roshini Mangalore claims York University has discriminated against her because of her ethnic origins.

She has pitched a tent outside the Department of Economics, in Alcuin College, and says she will neither eat nor leave until she receives "an acceptable response".

She said: "The university is refusing to accept my thesis, on which I have had to work for ten years, and I cannot understand why.

"If someone has worked on a project like this, for this long, surely they should be allowed to finish it? I believe the university has an attitude towards people from a certain culture, and that I have met that attitude at each stage of my work. They cannot play with my life in this way."

She accepted that she handed in her thesis six days after the deadline, but said she tried to contact her supervisors for many days before the deadline, without success.

The university said it was saddened by her decision to demonstrate.

A spokesperson said: "She has not resubmitted her thesis for examination, despite the fact that the university has offered a number of extended deadlines and academic support from the department concerned. Her registration at the university has now expired.

"Mrs Mangalore contested the decision to refer her PhD through the university's extensive appeal and complaints procedure. Her appeal and complaints were not upheld.

"Mrs Mangalore's case has been considered thoroughly both inside and outside the university. The university's fundamental concerns are to uphold the principles of academic quality and equitable treatment for all."