A graduate is suing her university, claiming boasts in its prospectus about high quality teaching and excellent career prospects were fraudulently misleading after she ended up with a “mickey mouse” degree.

Pok Wong, 29, is seeking more than £60,000 in damages from Anglia Ruskin University for what she says was a breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation.

The International Business Strategy graduate is also claiming she was falsely imprisoned by the institution’s security staff after being “locked” in a room when she tried to protest about the quality of her course during her graduation ceremony.

The legal action, which could set a precedent forcing universities to review the way they promote their courses, shows how students are increasingly seeing themselves as ‘customers’ who demand value for money because they pay thousands of pounds in tuition fees.

In documents lodged before London County Court, Ms Wong, who is originally from Hong Kong but now lives in London, says that “since graduating … it has been proven that the degree … does not play a role to help secure a rewarding job with prospects”.

She adds how prospectus claims about a “quality education and prospect of employment after graduation” encouraged her to move to the UK to study at the university’s Lord Ashcroft International Business School in Cambridge. The claim includes allegations that one lecturer arrived late for lessons, finished early and occasionally simply told students to “self-study”.