77-year-old pensioner graduates

Not even a heart attack and a stint in intensive care during his first year at Rhodes University in 2010 could stop Martin Allison from graduating with a BA degree at the weekend - alongside students young enough to be his grandchildren.

"I always wanted to go to university but flunked my UK school A-levels and did an apprenticeship to become a chartered accountant instead," he said.

"Getting a degree was like unfinished business."

The oldest student out of almost 2,300 that graduated over the weekend, Allison was given a huge cheer when he collected his degree and was even asked by one admiring young student he had never met before to pose with him for a selfie.

"I thought I would creep slowly and quietly onto stage and get my degree .... I was totally flabbergasted when I was given a huge round of applause. It really was overwhelming."

Despite finally realising a personal dream by getting a university degree, majoring in history and anthropology, Allison is not stopping any time soon and is now doing his honours at Rhodes.

The energetic pensioner, who still flies aeroplanes and fishes, even took violin lessons - which he last did as a child. He got so good he played with the Eastern Cape Philharmonic Orchestra.

He joked that another reason he enrolled at Rhodes was because he did not want to sit around "swopping pills with old people".

"I felt a bit out of place when I started [university] and all the first-year students were warned about the perils of misusing their freedoms and getting pregnant or locked up by police.

"I thought what is this .... is this the world of being a student?" he chuckled.

Not one to give up easily, Allison immersed himself in the student experience, staying with another Rhodes student in a flat he owns in Grahamstown during the week so he could attend all his lectures and write exams on time - often in a pair of short pants and slops like everyone else. "I wanted the full student experience, the only concession they made was that I could type my exams because my handwriting is so bad."

When Allison had his heart attack near the end of his first year at Rhodes, he did not even know it had happened and requested a doctor's note for his "leave of absence" for missing class.

Later that same day he was whisked off to intensive care in a Port Elizabeth hospital and dropped out while he recovered.

"I have really enjoyed studying and challenging my mind - it has kept me sharper.

"Your brain develops through being challenged and this improves your health."

His graduation was witnessed by his proud son Neil, his daughter Susan and their partners and children who specially travelled to Grahamstown to see Allison's dream finally come true.

Although Allison, who is a bachelor after being divorced from his wife a year ago, has set his sights on finishing his honours degree this year, he is not sure what he will do next.

"I will take it on a year-to-year basis. I want to travel still."