- A 91-year-old woman in France just earned her PhD after finishing her thesis
- The woman, Colette Bourlier, took three decades to finish her paper
- The school allowed her to finish her thesis because she was an exceptional student
Never say never – it ain’t over ’till it’s over. That’s the inspiring idea behind the story of Colette Bourlier, the 91-year-old French woman who finally completed her thesis after writing her first draft three decades ago. She is now the oldest woman in France to earn a PhD.
Her academic paper entitled “Immigrant workers in Besancon in the second half of the 20th century” passed the jury’s evaluation. Bourlier was able to excellently defend her academic paper at the University of Franche-Comte in Besancon which is located at the Eastern region of France.
The jury present for her thesis defense marked her thesis with “high distinction.”
AFP contacted Bourlier for an interview. In the interview, she was asked why it took her this long to complete her work. She said, “It took a bit of time to write because I took breaks.”
She said she became interested in pursuing a PhD after she retired in 1983. She was a literacy teacher for immigrants at the eastern region of France. As a result, her thesis topic was focused on the same area.
In usual circumstances, only three years is the amount of time allowed for a PhD program in France. However, according to Bourlier’s professor, Serge Ormaux, she was “an extremely atypical” student.
“She is probably the only person who knew all the aspects in such detail and who was able to weave everything together. She backed it up with statistical analyses,” he said.
Meanwhile, a 93-year-old woman, Dorothy Huston, also just recently earned her high school diploma after 75 long years. She was not allowed to graduate in 1942 when she accidentally revealed to her gym teacher that she got married. She attended the North High School in Akron, Ohio.
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