102-year-old Brian Lowe, who read law at Trinity College 85 years ago, recently received a Cambridge MA.

All Cambridge students are eligible to apply for an MA two years after they graduate with a BA. This method is also in place at the University of Oxford and Trinity College Dublin.

Mr Lowe matriculated in 1931, the year when the celebrated physicist Dr Ernest Rutherford first carried out his revolutionary experiments in the Cavendish laboratory.

A student of many talents, Mr Lowe had been a member of the university hockey team, and had learnt to fly at the university air squadron. Upon graduating, he joined a firm of London solicitors in 1937. He then served as an assistant British trade commissioner in Vancouver, after which he moved to Australia, where he now resides. The last time he visited his alma mater was more than a quarter of a century ago.

The honorary title confers membership of the University Senate, allowing the holder to participate in discussions as part of the university’s decision-making process, and vote to elect a new Chancellor or High Steward. If you hold a Cambridge BA, you may apply for the MA six years after your matriculation, as long as you have held your BA degree for at least two years.

“I visited these rooms the last time I was in Cambridge in 1989 when it was occupied by two female students, but seemed much the same, except that there was a wash basin where the coal had been kept, a great improvement,” Lowe told Cambridge News. The law graduate had considered applying for the MA to ‘complete his CV’, but had “never got round to it”.

Having checked the university registry, Trinity College has confirmed that Mr Lowe is the oldest graduate to have ever had their degree conferred.

A spokesperson for the college said: “We were delighted to hear from Mr Lowe and were happy to have his certificate sent to him.”