A mother and son donned their cap and gown to graduate university together.

Samiya Lerew, 60, from Barnet, and her 24-year-old son Edwin, graduated from Birkbeck, University of London in the same ceremony, achieving degrees from the same department.

Mrs Lerew, originally from Somalia, moved to London from Mogadishu in her 20s, and studied English and office skills, but the death of her stepfather meant she abandoned her education to work and support her mother.

She said: "I can’t thank Birkbeck enough for granting me such a great opportunity to study. For the longest time, I’ve been politically active, but never pursued politics academically.

"Growing up in Mogadishu, I had seen the effects of what dysfunctional nationalism combined with dictatorship can do to the place I call home.

"So naturally, I wanted to study the nature of politics in order to help me reach the right conclusions and certify myself as an ‘intellect’."

The mother-of-three went on to work for Haringey Council and a number of charities working in the Horn of Africa, and she helped establish the Help Somalia Foundation.

Four years ago she decided to enrol at Birkbeck and pursue a BA in Global Politics and International Relations, as Edwin started studying for a BA Politics and Government.

Mrs Lerew added: "We regularly exchanged ideas and had conversations about politics and how some of the concepts we studied at Uni could be used as tools for contemporary world politics.

"We read Adam Smith, Machiavelli, Karl Marx and Foucault. It was great to have him study at the same time – he is also a great friend."

Her son will now go on to study a Masters in Text and Performance at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.