76-year-old UK man gets PhD after 50 years

He had first enrolled in a doctorate programme in 1970 when he received the prestigious Fulbright scholarship for a PhD in mathematical sociology at the University of Pittsburgh in the USA. However, after five years he left his degree unfinished and returned to the UK.

In 2016 when he was 69-year-old, Axten decided to finish his half-abandoned academic pursuits and got enrolled in an MA Philosophy programme at the University of Bristol. After getting his MA degree, he signed up for a PhD in Philosophy at the same university. He finally finished his PhD in 2022 and was awarded the degree this year on February 14.

A 76-year-old student has finally graduated more than 50 years after he started his #PhD! 🎓

Dr Nick Axten said he needed “a long hard think” in the intervening five decades.

Read more on Dr Axten and his amazing achievement 📢 https://t.co/AqzZ9ar660 pic.twitter.com/hdTlIcjaV9

— University of Bristol (@BristolUni) February 14, 2023

While talking to the Epigram, the student newspaper of the University of Bristol, about finishing a PhD in Philosophy, fifty years after he abandoned a PhD in Mathematics, he said, “Some problems are so great it takes the best part of a lifetime to get your head around them. They need a long hard think. This one has taken me 50 years. Doing a PhD is a lot of hard work, but it’s been brilliant.”

Talking about his experience as an older student in a class full of younger scholars, he said, “I have loved being a student again at Bristol University. All of the other philosophy graduate students were around 23 but they accepted me as one of their own. They are clever people full of ideas and I loved talking with them – especially at the pub in the afternoon.”