Despite walking into a class where most of her fellow classmates were decades younger, Dr Prema Subramaniam never felt out of place.
And while most graduation ceremonies paint a picture of proud parents applauding their children on stage as they receive their degrees, on Nov 29 last year, it was Dr Prema’s kids who were cheering for her.
They had flown from Brisbane, Australia, to Singapore to witness their 72-year-old “supermum” graduate, with a Doctorate of Business Administration from the Edinburgh Napier University based in Scotland.
Both working engineers, they held up signs that said “My mum is happy” and “You can do it!”.
Dr Prema’s doctorate is the latest addition to her ever-lengthening list of qualifications.
She already holds two master’s degrees, one bachelor’s degree and four diplomas – most of them related to business and banking and finance.
“Age was never a factor, even in the classrooms,” said Dr Prema. “We treated each other as equals, doing projects together, having our own study groups and even meeting at each other’s homes to discuss things. We were all just students united by a common purpose.
“I never feel that I am too old to learn or further my education. Spending on education and gaining knowledge is better than buying gold jewellery and keeping them in the bank.”
Dr Prema attributes her passion for lifelong learning to the words of her parents: “Even silver and gold jewellery may tarnish over time, but knowledge never does. It only adds value to the person who gains it.”
Her thirst for knowledge helped her to rise up to the post of bank manager at the Banque Nationale de Paris, where she started working after marriage in 1978. Back then, she juggled her work at the bank with teaching in the evenings. She taught subjects in business management and commerce to A-level and O-level students.
Her doctoral pursuit was only successful on the third attempt.
The first time, her course with University of South Australia via Kaplan was discontinued halfway.
Later, she enrolled in the University of Canberra’s doctoral programme with PSB Academy, but had to exit the programme after she broke her right hand in a fall. During that time, she also had to deal with the loss of her husband in 2015 due to an illness.
In Oct 2018, she re-embarked on her doctoral journey with Edinburgh Napier University on a part-time programme. Her plans were derailed for a period of time when Covid-19 struck, but she nevertheless pressed on to the end.
Influenced by her own entrepreneurship ventures, she chose to do her doctoral thesis on the topic of women entrepreneurship. “I was always interested in business and did try my hand at business (on a part-time basis) with the likes of Amway and Tupperware. However, I needed a regular income to support my family and couldn’t do business full time,” Dr Prema explained.
Now that she has attained a doctorate, Dr Prema plans to go into lecturing.
“I hope to go into lecturing at a polytechnic or ITE or to work with the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s SME Centre, so that I can boost the entrepreneurship journeys of women.”
Her educational journey is not over yet, she said.
“Using my SkillsFuture Credit, I recently attended a short course on coaching. I am exploring various avenues open to me and what other skills I might require.”
