“INCOMPETENT” Sussex University will be forced to fork out £10,000 to four student protesters in compensation for their “distressing” victimisation.

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) ruled yesterday that the university had not “followed a fair procedure” when it suspended Michael Segalov, Lewis Nielsen, Hichem Maafi and Adriano Marotta.

The quartet was hauled over the coals in December 2013 after protests against privatisation and tuition fees.

Mr Nielsen told the Star the “verdict proves how incompetent Sussex University management are.”

He said: “It exposes what kind of people are now running universities — businessmen who see education as an arena to increase privatisation and make profit, and are prepared to suspend those who protest against their agenda.”

The report criticised the university for singling out just four of the many students who took part in the protests against outsourcing more than 235 jobs on campus.

It also berated university vice-chancellor Michael Farthing for dissolving the original appeals panel to later opt for a different disciplinary procedure.

“This led to the reasonable suspicion that the decision had been reached in order to prevent the students involved from being legally represented,” said the OIA.

Freedom of information requests revealed that Sussex had blown over £55,000 on legal costs throughout the case.

The report demanded the university apologise further to the students for “poor communication” and failure “to respond to reasonable queries.”

Mr Segalov — who is currently an officer at the university’s student union — said he was “relieved and elated” with the OIA decision.

International relations student Mr Maafi branded the review “a success for the student movement.”

He said: “However we should bear in mind that the compensation will not make up the damage caused by the university management and that the struggle for justice for students and workers is far from over.

“Our suspension was clearly politically motivated in order to intimidate and silence everyone who dares to speak out.”

He added: “The only people who should really be suspended are Michael Farthing and his executive group for their authoritarian and unaccountable rule.”

A university spokesman said Sussex was “satisfied” with the findings and noted that “there needs to be greater clarity and transparency of information in regards to the process for student disciplinary matters.”

He confirmed the university will pay out between £2,000 and £2,500 in compensation awards to each suspended student.

An independent working group was also established by the university’s council to address similar situations in the future and Sussex must report back to the OIA on improvements later this year.