Thai grandmother, 91, collects degree after lifelong wait

A 91-year-old woman from Thailand has finally achieved her lifelong ambition of earning a degree.

Kimlan Jinakul, has spent years working on her bachelor's degree and on Wednesday 9 August finally reached the end of her journey.

Jinakul had always wanted to go to university, and after seeing her children and grandchildren graduate, she wanted to do the same for herself.

She first enrolled at the Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University at the age of 72, but the death of one of her daughters put plans to study Human Ecology on hold.

At the age of 85 she tried again and this time succeeded, in the hope that her daughter's soul would be "pleased to see this".

"It's never too late. My mind is always awake and sharp for learning," Kimlan said.

"This world never stops. There are always new problems for us to solve. If there were no new sciences, the world would stop prospering," she said.

The nonagenarian lined up with the rest of her course graduates to receive her degree.

Originally from the Lampang province in the north of Thailand, she had always been a bright pupil at school and was able to attend one of the top schools in the area, but when university beckoned, the timing was not right, when her family moved to Bangkok.

It was thanks to her family's successes that Jinakul was convinced to give university a second shot.

Four of her five children have a degree and one went on to receive a PhD in the US.