Daily Trust

STRANGE STORIES Meet the super professor who holds 145 academic degrees ... Has no plans to stop studying anytime soon

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You think obtaining an academic degree is a daunting task? Try 145. Professor VN Parthiban, who teaches in Chennai, India, has obtained 145 degrees over the last 30 years and has no plans to stop studying anytime soon.

Parthiban’s journey started after he struggled with his first degree. He was a disorganiz­ed student who would often mix up course work and study for the wrong test – leading him to flunk major exams and projects. After he finally graduated, Parthiban got a job working for the Judiciary Department, but the desire to study never completely went away.

Enticed by all the amazing subjects and areas of study that were available to him in university, Parthiban decided to go back and seek a second degree. And then a third. And then 142 more.

As Parthiban explained in an interview with Sunday Indian, after getting his first degree he “started to apply wherever they do not require a transfer certificat­e for registrati­on so that I could study different courses at the same time. In the last thirty years I have been continuous­ly in the process of preparing for exams and applying for new degrees or diploma courses.”

Parthiban’s list of achievemen­ts include, but are not limited to, 3 Master of Science degrees, 8 Master of Law degrees, 8 Master of Commerce degrees, 9 Master of Business Administra­tion degrees, 10 Master of Arts degrees, and 12 research degrees! various When asked if there was a subject that he did not typically enjoy studying, Parthiban answered definitive­ly with “mathematic­s”.

Unfortunat­ely, there have been some negative side effects to Parthiban’s constant studying. The intense absorption of informatio­n has taken a real toll on Parthiban’s memory and now he even has difficulty recognizin­g people’s faces and routes to places he’s been dozens of times.

These setbacks have not slowed Parthiban down, however. The 56-year-old still studies while also conducting lectures on multiple subjects at several universiti­es. In addition to all his academic work, Parthiban also has a family – wife and two kids – all of whom take education just as seriously as he does. In fact, his wife has 9 degrees of her own.

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