A mum and daughter have proved they’re a class act after graduating from their Masters degrees at the same time.
Claire Walton and her only daughter Emily had double the reason to celebrate when they proudly donned their gowns at their ceremonies at Newcastle University this week.
Forty-six-year-old Claire had completed her year-long Masters degree in business administration, while 23-year-old Emily passed her Masters degree in science and psychology.
The pair graduated separately at ceremonies held within a day of each other.
Proud mum Claire, from Middlesbrough, said it had been a spur-of-the-moment decision to go to university at the age of 46.
The mum-of-one said: “I’d never been to university and it was always something that niggled me.
“I’d always wanted to see if I was clever enough.
“Emily had already done an under-graduate degree and got her place on her Masters before I got mine – for me, it was very much last-minute.
“My last contract of employment ended last August and the course started in September, so I thought, why not? It was very much spontaneous.
“I completely funded myself through it, and helped my daughter out.
“Obviously, I knew Emily was going to Newcastle University and I thought it would be nice for us to go to the same uni, even though we were going to be doing separate courses.”
Claire admitted she had a lot of experience in the business, having worked at companies like Royal Mail and WH Smith as an HR director, but she was nervous about being an older student and studying.
She said: “It was not what I expected. I thought I would be really, really bad as, although I had the experience, I thought I may not be academically up to it.
“That was not the case, though, and I found it fine.
“I thought, ‘I’ve had a chip on my shoulder all these years about not being clever enough to do a degree, and I could have done’.
“I really enjoyed the course and there was a great mix of people. There were 29 of us but only two Brits, me and an Army manager. The rest were much younger but everyone got on.”
Claire began her career before giving birth to Emily and starting off working in supermarket retail.
She quickly progressed and got her foundations in management and HR while working at Asda.
Claire said: “I had Emily when I was 23 and, when she was seven, I became a single mum. It was tough but I continued with my career.
Emily, who now lives in Newcastle city centre, graduated from her degree in Psychology at Northumbria University before taking on her Masters at Newcastle.
She said: “I was really proud of her when she graduated. When she first mentioned doing her Masters at Newcastle at the same time as me, as wasn’t sure how it would pan out.
“I thought I would see her around all the time and we’d be studying in the library together and stuff. But we didn’t really see much of each other.
“It’s great to graduate within a day of each other, though, and we’ve had a meal out on each day to celebrate.”
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