Long-term project

Alumnus to be proud of no 28 is Sir John Daniel, vice chancellor of the Open University and possessor of a fine collection of degrees including an Oxford BA and a University of Paris doctorate. But the real collector's item is his forthcoming masters from Concordia University, Montreal - just completed the best part of a quarter of a century after he started it.

Concordia clearly did not mind - they appointed him vice rector in 1980, a rare honour for a university drop-out - and other high-powered academic posts helped keep him fully occupied throughout the period. But any OU postgraduate under pressure to hurry up their thesis submission should in future be able to cite a rather compelling precedent.