A doctor has received his degree from the University of St Andrews almost 50 years after he graduated.
When Michael Gordon completed his studies at the Fife university in 1966 he was presented with a temporary certificate.
The scribe who created the ornate versions died suddenly shortly before his graduation ceremony and he and his classmates were promised proper certificates which never materialised.
During a visit to the university earlier this year, Mr Gordon told its director of development Robert Fleming about his ‘temporary’ degree and was delighted when his long awaited certificate arrived in the post at his home in Canada.
Mr Gordon, an eminent geriatrician and palliative care specialist based at the Baycrest Centre, Toronto, said he was elated to see the “exquisite” degree certificate, inscribed in Latin.
He said physicians in North America often display their certificates on their walls and he repeatedly had to explain to visitors to his office in the Baycrest Centre, Toronto, why all he had from St Andrews was a typewritten sheet of paper in a plain black frame.
Often, he said, people would jokingly ask if that was all Scotland, with its reputation for being careful with money, could provide.
He said: “All these years it seemed strange to have such a paltry representation of the single most important educational accomplishment of my life.
“Even though I spent the years in Dundee, which became in a sense my home, there was always the tie to St Andrews of great historical claim.”
Mr Gordon had returned to Dundee to deliver the inaugural Miriam Friedman lecture when he visited his alma mater.
A spokesman for the University of St Andrews said: “It’s great to have the support of alumni like Michael.
“He travels a long way from Toronto to join our medical school reunions, so the least we could do was make good our promise to replace his temporary degree certificate, albeit almost half a century after he graduated.”