An 87-year-old pensioner who left school at 14 “with nothing” is Scotland’s oldest university student after enrolling at university — for the eighth time.
Scotland’s oldest graduate, Alex Stewart, returned to classes at Dundee University last week where he is studying for a liberal arts degree.
Alex, who lives in Dundee, has already earned degrees in sociology, philosophy and town and regional planning from Dundee, Abertay and St Andrew universities.
He is the university’s oldest student and the one with the most degrees.
Born in the days of the jute industry, Alex’s parents told him he had to leave school at 14 to get a job.
He previously said: “These were the days when parents would have to pay for the academies and so that was the end of me learning anything.
“I left school with nothing.”
But that wasn’t the end of the road for the pensioner who returned to education at the age of 65.
He enrolled in the University’s New Opportunities Course through Dundee College in 1995 and went on to study for his multiple degrees.
Alex spent his military service as a radio operator in the RAF before working for most of his career as a surveyor across the UK.
At 65 he decided to follow in his son’s footsteps seized the opportunity to return to education after seeing them complete university.
His son Simon studied geology, while his younger sons Jonathan and Dominic graduated in medicine and law.
