An Australian scholar in his 90s successfully capped off his law degree this week, winning a race against time he feared he might not live to finish.
Having compressed the demanding course of legal study from six years into just four-and-a-half due to his advanced years, Allan Stewart graduated to a standing ovation on Saturday at the University of New England in the southern Australian state of New South Wales.
“There is a saying in law that time is of the essence,” said Stewart, who only believed he would really succeed halfway through his studies.
“I think if I had let it run too much longer I might not have finished it.”
While the humble 91-year-old from the small village of Tea Gardens described himself as an “average, middle-of-the-road Australian”, his latest accolade was just one of a string of degrees he earned from other universities and followed a distinguished career in dentistry.
“I have been told that although I am 91 years old, my biological age has not kept up with me,” he said.
Still, 21st-century study presented technological challenges for a man born in 1915 — a little over a month before the first Australian troops landed at Gallipoli, Turkey, during World War I.
Much of the course material was delivered over the internet.
“I was not literate in computers at all,” he said. “I was completely self-taught as far as that was concerned.”
Stewart, who was inspired to return to university life after his son completed a degree in counselling, said he hoped his graduation would spur on others to take up study in later life.
“I think it is an encouragement to the community in general, and to people of my generation in particular,” he said. — AFP