Alison and Daniel Donovan, of Coombe Lane, both gained a first class honours degree in Public Relations at the University of Bedfordshire recently, and they say they enjoyed the healthy competition with eachother from being on the same course.

"It may seem weird but in many ways it was part of the learning experience," said Mrs Donovan, 46.

"Danny actually helped me to choose my course and university and he later transferred to the same course at the University of Bedfordshire so it was his choice to study with me.

"We did establish some ground rules about not being 'mum and son' at uni and at first many people didn't even know that we were related, so I guess we got the balance right."

Earlier this year Mrs Donovan scooped the award for the best PR student, narrowly beating 23-year-old son for the prize.

And to top things off, the pair also studied alongside Mr Donovan's girlfriend Natalja Paramonova, who also gained a first class honours degree.

"People have asked me if it bothered me having my mum in the same class, but it's much easier than you think studying with a parent and whilst we were at university we acted like any other classmates," said Mr Donovan.