Honorary degree

Not to be confused with Honours degree.

The honoris causa doctorate received by Jimmy Wales from the University of Maastricht (2015)

An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases honoris causa ("for the sake of the honour") or ad honorem ("to the honour"). The degree is typically a doctorate or, less commonly, a master's degree, and may be awarded to someone who has no prior connection with the academic institution[1] or no previous postsecondary education. An example of identifying a recipient of this award is as follows: Doctorate in Business Administration (Hon. Causa).

The degree is often conferred as a way of honouring a distinguished visitor's contributions to a specific field or to society in general.[2]

Honorary doctorates are purely titular degrees in that they confer no rights on the recipient and carry with them no formal academic qualification. As such, it is always expected that such degrees be listed in one's curriculum vitae (CV) as an award, and not in the education section.[3] With regard to the use of this honorific, the policies of institutions of higher education generally ask that recipients "refrain from adopting the misleading title"[4] and that a recipient of an honorary doctorate should restrict the use of the title "Dr" before their name to any engagement with the institution of higher education in question and not within the broader community.[5]

  1. ^ "The Honorary Degree". Honorarydegrees.wvu.edu. Archived from the original on 30 March 2015.
  2. ^ "Honorary Degrees: A Short History". Brandeis University. Archived from the original on 25 June 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  3. ^ "Honorary Degrees". Archived from the original on 16 September 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  4. ^ McNeilage, Amy (4–5 October 2014). "Ian Thorpe now Dr Thorpedo, man of letters". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 31. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  5. ^ "Honorary Doctorate Guidelines". University of Southern Queensland. 2012. Archived from the original on 25 July 2017.