The Ceremony: What Happens During an Honorary Degree Conferral

Academic dress, an inscribed scroll, a address to the graduates. The ritual is designed to include the honouree in the institution’s history — for a day.

The etiquette around titles is deliberately careful. Most universities ask honorary recipients to describe the award as honorary in every professional context, and many style guides discourage the use of Doctor on the basis of an honoris causa award alone. Recipients who respect the distinction enhance both their own reputation and the institution’s; those who exploit the ambiguity do lasting damage to both.

History also records how the honour has been declined. Some of the most respected figures in science and literature have turned down honorary degrees on principle, arguing that such awards dilute the meaning of earned doctorates, or that they preferred to be honoured by their work alone. These refusals are part of the tradition too, and universities generally record them with respect.

The practice of awarding honorary degrees reaches back to the medieval universities of Europe. As institutions such as Bologna, Paris and Oxford formalised their degree structures in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, they also developed the habit of granting the insignia of a degree without requiring the candidate to complete the usual course of study — a gesture of respect rather than an academic judgement.

For the public, the practical takeaway is consistency. A legitimate honorary degree is awarded by an accredited institution, announced with reasons, free of charge to the recipient, and clearly labelled as honorary. Any offer that reverses those conditions — a fee, a vague awarding body, an implied professional qualification — belongs to the counterfeit market rather than to this centuries-old tradition.

An honorary award is a public statement of values. When the criteria are transparent and the recipient deserving, the honour enriches both sides — and cannot be bought.