Heart surgery no hindrance to old master

George Gair, 83, will receive his masters degree with other AUT University graduates at a ceremony today. Photo / Richard Robinson

He's not quite up to participating in the procession march but 83-year-old AUT University student George Gair can't wait to walk across the stage and receive his master's degree during today's graduation ceremony.

The senior citizen, who was a Member of Parliament for nearly 25 years, is one of 1242 AUT students graduating at the Bruce Mason Centre today.

He's not only the oldest in the group, but possibly one of the oldest in the country to have earned such a qualification - although the world record is held by a 94-year-old Australian woman.

Mr Gair, who gained a bachelor of arts degree from the University of New Zealand during the 1940s, decided to further his study in 2006 after being challenged by a former political colleague, AUT Professor Marilyn Waring.

"It started off as a happy challenge," he said. "Her father, who is in his 80s, two or three years ago did a degree at Waikato University and Marilyn's interesting challenge was if he could do it, I could do it."

Mr Gair, who retired from Parliament in 1990 and was North Shore's Mayor from 1995 to 1998, eagerly took up the challenge.

He was accepted in mid-2007, but his study had to be postponed while he had heart surgery.

After recovering he started work on his thesis, "Managing change as a Minister of the Crown", a project which had occupied a large portion of his life during the past two years and has now given him his master's degree

Mr Gair, who has three children and five grandchildren - the youngest of whom is at Auckland University - said returning to study as an older student was no problem.

"Mixing with young people in a university environment, it helps to keep the brain alive.

"I've never seen learning as a process you stop doing. It [the thesis] didn't particularly involve learning other than how to project the story, handle the presentation. It involved going back to my time as a minister, describing what I did, why I did it, how I did it in the context of the time."

He also sees it a stepping stone for his next big project, writing his autobiography. Mr Gair said he was looking forward to this afternoon's graduation, but as he hadn't been well, he had decided to skip the procession.

He plans to celebrate this evening with a family dinner.

Meanwhile, Sir Don McKinnon - who was in Parliament with Mr Gair - will receive AUT's highest honour, an honorary doctorate, for his contribution to restorative justice and conflict resolution in national and international forums.

Sir Don, who holds eight honorary doctorates from Commonwealth universities, including Canterbury's Lincoln University, , said: "It's a great honour to be acknowledged in my home country."

GEORGE GAIR
* University of NZ Bachelor of Arts mid 1940s.
* Member of Parliament for North Shore 1966-1990.
* High Commissioner to London 1991-94.
* Mayor of North Shore 1995-1998.
* AUT masters student 2007-2010.