One of the latest trends in the HRD world may be flexible learning, but you could say one Open University student has been in it for the long haul!

70-year-old Stuart Baldwin has become a proud graduate of the University....28 years after he began the BSC Science degree!

While many struggle to juggle work and other distractions with the demands of study, Mr Baldwin chose to dip in and out of the degree course, setting a new record for the longest time taken to complete a degree course in the process. In the intervening years, he's seen his children grow up and the cost of tuition fees for a degree rise from around £150, which he paid to sign up in 1971, to £3,500 now. The former IBM businessman has also set up a second-hand bookshop and developed an interest in hunting, collecting and selling fossils to such an extent that the Open University itself became his biggest customer.

The Times reports that Mr Baldwin contacted the Guinness Book of Records to enquire whether his achievement could be documented - apparently they wrote back with a certificate of confirmation. Mr Baldwin told the paper his next move was to undertake a PhD, which luckily has a eight-year time limit!