Is this 80-year-old the oldest student to attend university abroad?

Leaving your home country behind to study at a university abroad can be a daunting prospect for anyone but for an 80-year-old man, the decision to give his brain an academic workout in Italy has led some to call him the oldest ever foreign student.

Miguel Castillo from Spain left his home in Valencia on 19 February to travel to the Italian city of Verona, to pursue his university studies under the Erasmus programme; the European Union’s student scheme.

Quadruple bypass gave second chance

The octogenarian has always loved history and chose to study at the University of Valencia after suffering a heart attack when he retired from his job as a notary.

The grandfather of six credits his new thirst for knowledge on the second chance he was given after undergoing quadruple bypass surgery.

“Shortly after recovering, I said to myself: I would like to do something that isn’t typical of a retiree. History always interested me”, Mr Castillo told Spanish news agency EFE.

Mr Castillo, who is currently studying the third year of his history degree, says he is treated just like one of the other students. “The treatment I get is excellent, age is not a problem.”

Talking Italian

His fellow students often ask Mr Castillo for all kinds of advice including on their love life. He also confesses he has found himself in some peculiar situations at university.

“When I went to do the Italian exam, I was told by the receptionist that family members had to wait outside. I said that outside was my gang of grandchildren and that I would be the one doing the exam. She said: ‘Sorry, sorry.’ “

Mr Castillo met and married his wife after he retired and the couple spent their first week in a hotel in the city of Romeo and Juliet. They have now decided to rent an apartment in Verona.

Mr Castillo would have been happy to live in student accommodation, such was his quest to immerse himself in the full student experience but his wife wasn’t keen.

He said: “I wouldn’t mind it at all because I‘ve lived at student residences, I know what it’s like. You have to accept jokes and pranks and dish them out as well.

“But my wife says she doesn’t see herself at pyjama parties. I told her she could go in a nightgown instead!”

‘Don’t stay at home. Open yourself up to world’

Like the UK, Europe's ageing population is increasing every year with 19 per cent of the EU-28’s population in 2016 made up of people aged 65+.

The EU’s Erasmus Programme is estimated to have helped nearly nine million people to study abroad in many of the best universities in Europe, since the scheme's creation in 1987.

Brexit may see some universities pull out of the Erasmus scheme but the Government has said it intends to continue the UK’s involvement in the programme.

Mr Castillo said: “To people who are my age, I urge them not to stay at home and to instead open themselves up to the world, because we can still give a lot to society and we can get a lot in return.”