Doctorate at 72

Adrian O’Sullivan

Not many people receive a doctorate just six days before their seventy-second birthday!

When I opted for early retirement from my job as a technical-college communications instructor in 1997 and needed a simple job to supplement my modest pension, I returned to my earlier occupation as a long-distance bus driver. Finding that too stressful and physically demanding at my age, I spent the next few years delivering showroom cars to dealers.

Of course, such work meant long hours behind the wheel, with plenty of time to reflect upon how I might better utilise my remaining years of activity. Frequently I found myself entertaining the idea of a return to academic life, and to the doctoral studies that I had abandoned many decades earlier as a much younger man.

So, about eight years ago, I enrolled in the seniors’ programme at Simon Fraser University, which quickly led to full-time doctoral studies in History. However, finding it impossible to obtain adequate funding for my work, generally because of blatant, widespread age-discrimination against senior students, I could no longer afford Canadian university fees.

Fortunately, around this time I discovered Unisa and its DLitt et Phil research-degree programmes. The transfer from SFU was straightforward, the fees approx one-third of those I was paying in Canada, and (as I soon discovered) the supervision absolutely first-rate. I was free to pursue my doctoral research in Britain, Germany, and the United States, without any residence requirement or other restrictions. And, when I finally submitted my thesis four years later, after enjoying tremendous constructive support from my Unisa supervisors, my appointed examiners all proved to be top-notch leading scholars, whose opinions I totally respected.

Now, as a brand-new DLitt et Phil, I face the pleasant prospect of spending my remaining years creatively, not driving buses or delivering cars, but researching and writing readable history books for present and future generations, and finally seeing my name in print. Thank you Unisa for changing my life … at age 72!

Written by Adrian O’Sullivan

*Please note that the opinions expressed in this article are those of the contributor of this story and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the University of South Africa.