All in the family

Family ties are strong at UCT. Among the many thousands of graduates, every year sees many proud parents gowning their sons and daughters - ditto for equally proud spouses, partners, siblings and other relatives gowning their spouses, partners, siblings and relatives - and this year was no exception. We likely missed quite a few, but here's a gallery of those we did get on camera.

Family way: Keith, Neil, Carol and Ross Balchin

Keith Balchin of the Department of Mechanical Engineering has a lot to celebrate. His two sons, Ross and Neil, graduated this year, bringing his family's tally of UCT degrees to a round 10, plus a postgraduate diploma. Last week, Ross graduated with a PhD from the Department of Psychology, and Neil with a master's degree in economics.

The family's scorecard looks as follows:

Carol Balchin (nee Hamilton)
BA (1973) and Higher Diploma in Librarianship (1974)

Keith Balchin
BSc Mechanical Engineering (1978) and Master of Industrial Administration (1986)

Ross Balchin
BSocSc (2001), BSocSc honours (2002), MA (2004) and PhD (2008)

Neil Balchin
BCom (2005), BCom honours (2006) and Master of Commerce (2008)