Arthur Ross finally finished his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia (UBC) on Thursday, more than five decades after he started university. Mr. Ross, 71, is now the new record holder for the longest time to complete a university degree, having graduated after 54 years. “The headline on your story should be ‘UBC finally graduates its slowest student,'” the now 71-year-old retiree told UBC with a laugh.
Mr. Ross enrolled at UBC in 1969. He told the BBC, “I just wanted to learn because I was curious.” That passion to learn, he claims, is what motivated him to complete his degree after all these years.
According to a UBC press release, Mr. Ross’s initial plan was to study English, but by his second year, his passion for the theatre had completely taken over, and he was spending as much time as possible in the theatre department, doing shows and taking courses to pursue his nascent goal of becoming an actor.
I was besotted with theatre at the time. It was alive then, with a sense of vitality and newness. It seemed just electric to me,” Ross remembers. In the department, Ross met notable Canadian actors such as Nicola Cavendish, Larry Lillo, Brent Carver, and Ruth Nichol, who inspired him to pursue a career in theatre.
From acting to law and back to University
Ross left UBC two years into his degree, with stars in his eyes, to complete a three-year program at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal. However, the actor’s practical reality and his judgment of his ability led him to a terrible conclusion.
“I liked it too much. It wasn’t going to be healthy for me. I knew I was a good actor but I always thought you had to be great.”
So he did what any aspiring actor in 1975 would do if they realized they were outclassed. Ross used his three years of academic work at UBC to go to law school in Toronto, graduated, and worked as a civil litigator in Metro Vancouver for 35 years before retiring in 2016.
He called UBC in November 2016, acquired a new student number, and by January 2017 he was a part-time history student, with a particular interest in the First World War.
“I simply could not grasp why so many people would be prepared to participate in this butchery,” he explains. “However, the great revelation of pursuing a history degree was not in answering that initial question, but in looking at the sordid nature of Canadian history.”
“I’m appreciative of the students accepting that old guy tuning in from outer space,” he told UBC.
