A 67-year-old South African recently enrolled as a first-year student at Rhodes University.

Pensioner Michael Willemse came to Makhanda with only one bag of clothes and toiletries to enrol at the Eastern Cape university and is now hoping to graduate with a BA degree in anthropology and politics.

HeradLIVE reports that Willemse was inspired by a 30-year-old friend who had registered at Rhodes in 2019.

Willemse has 41 years of working experience in the aviation industry and business sector.

After retiring, he decided he wanted to further his studies and is now staying in one of the university residences.

“At res we are a fraternity and some of the younger generation students called me ‘sir’ and I have told them to just call me Michael,” he told HeraldLIVE.

“I want to show the old and the young that one is never too old to go back to school and today there are [more] opportunities presented for us to further our studies.”

Pensioner Michael Willemse

#sabcnews interviews our 67-year-old first year student, Michael Willemse. https://t.co/E4DCl2qR2P

— Rhodes University (@Rhodes_Uni) February 25, 2020

Willemse is a SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) recipient who is awaiting approval for National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding for his studies. He has also started a Backabuddy page to help fund his studies.