A Malaysian mother is ready to face new challenges following her graduation on Saturday. Cecilia Ong See Kiaw, a 56-year-old retiree is the oldest student who graduated among the 1,562 graduates at the University Malaysia Sarawak, in Malaysia

According to Ong, there is no age limit if a person wants to attain and pursue higher education as long as one is persistent.

She retired as a nursing manager at the Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching last year.

"I feel special and extremely excited about obtaining my Corporate Masters in Business Administration as I could not pursue my education earlier because of my children but later I decided to upgrade myself mainly for self satisfaction," she said when met here after receiving her scroll from Unimas Chancellor Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng.

Ong's two daughters, aged 26 and 32, and grandchild were all supportive of her efforts to graduate.

She described her classmates in the university as very helpful to her despite the big age gap.

However, Ong said being a nurse for 35 years had given her some advantage especially in doing clinical testing in one of her subjects. Most of her younger classmates never had any experience in clinical testing.