Cambridge student offering $97k for tutor

LONDON - A wealthy foreign student at Cambridge is offering a private tutor £48,000 (S$97,000) for just 16 weeks' work, British media reported yesterday.

The Swiss national, 20, failed two modules during his first year and must now pass resits in the summer to carry on studying at the university, said the Cambridge News.

He is willing to pay the right candidate £100 an hour for the one-off fixed-term contract. Applicants must have an "excellent degree" from Cambridge and possess "superb" scientific knowledge, reported The Telegraph, citing a job ad posted on Wednesday on agency Tutors International's website. The live-in tutor will be required to work six hours a day, five days a week for 16 weeks to help the student, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyspraxia, disorders that affect coordination and movement.

Mr Adam Caller, founder and chief executive of the agency, said the actual cost of the tuition was more like £64,000 when its fee was included, plus the added expense of potentially providing accommodation for the tutor in Cambridge. Four candidates have contacted the agency, he said.

"This is just a little job in Cambridge. It is not one of our big clients," he told the Cambridge News. "All of our clients are well-off... the kind of people for whom money is no object."

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