The prestigious Harvard University in the US racially discriminated against Asian-American students by rating them lower than others applicants on traits like "positive personality," according to a lawsuit against one of the Ivy League schools.

The 388-year-old institution is being sued by Students for Fair Admissions, an action group, for discriminating against Asian applicants, the New York Times reported. The group commissioned an analysis of admission data of more than 1,60,000 applicants who applied for admission from 2000 to 2015, which showed that Asians were given lower scores on "personality" traits — likability, courage, kindness and being "widely respected".