Degrees

This year's honorary degrees were conferred in two very different ceremonies on beautiful summer days in June and July. In the traditional June ceremony in the Senate House, The Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh, conferred honorary degrees on nine distinguished people. Two weeks later, a unique ceremony took place in the grounds of Buckingham Place when the University honoured Nelson Mandela.

An honorary degree is the highest honour that the University can bestow and recognizes outstanding personal achievement. Those honoured in Cambridge included Mr Jonathan Miller, the stage and film director who graduated from Cambridge in medicine; Professor Antony Hewish and Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell who were instrumental in the discovery of pulsars at Cambridge in 1967; and the local Cambridge businessman Sir Arthur Marshall, Life President of the Cambridge engineering firm, Marshall of Cambridge.

The degree of Doctor of Law was awarded to Dame Rosalyn Higgins, the first woman judge at the International Court of Justice; Sir Alan Cottrell was honoured for his pioneering work in the development of modern materials science, and Mr Hamish Maxwell for his leadership of the American Friends of Cambridge University, which has provided wide-ranging support for many University and College projects.

The Metropolitan Anthony, head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Britain, was awarded the Doctor of Divinity while the degree of Doctor of Music was awarded to Mr Winton Dean, the distinguished musicologist who is known as the leading authority on Handel.

In July, the University joined seven other universities to honour the President of South Africa, Mr Nelson Mandela, at Buckingham Palace. Cambridge awarded President Mandela an honorary doctorate of Law. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir David Williams, said: "I am delighted that the University will have this chance to honour President Mandela. He is a man who has made an outstanding contribution and is one of the greatest heroes of the twentieth century."

The University Orator, Antony Bowen, explained President Mandela's achievements. In a beautifully woven passage, he mused that the President might weave together the academic gowns to inspire his people into a love of learning. In fact, President Mandela wore a light grey suit without any academic robes and, after each university had made its presentation, spoke in reply to the honours. His voice and delivery were much stronger than his years would have suggested as he talked of the importance of education in his country and the honour of the distinctions received.

To coincide with the occasion, a prestigious set of scholarships, which Mr Mandela has graciously agreed can be named the Mandela Cambridge Scholarships, will be formally confirmed. The new scholarships will allow up to 30 South Africans from disadvantaged backgrounds to study at Cambridge. They will study subjects relevant to the needs of the new South Africa.

Proposals for the conferment of honorary doctorates are considered annually by the Council. Any person may write to the Vice-Chancellor making such a proposal, and stating the grounds for it. In addition the Vice-Chancellor consults Faculty Boards and similar bodies, which may make their own proposals, as of course may members of the Council itself. These proposals, amounting to several dozen each year, are reviewed by a committee of the Council, chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, which makes recommendations to the Council. After final consideration of a short-list (and of course after clearing, in confidence, with those proposed that they are willing for their names to go forward for nomination), nominations are published early each calendar year.