Years of study and hard work are about to pay off for thousands of students at St Andrews and Dundee universities.
Today marks the start of the institutions’ graduation ceremonies and each will be welcoming family and friends from all over the world to their campuses. It will also be an occasion to mark the achievements of distinguished figures from academia, the arts, business and the law with the awarding of honorary degrees.
Today will see St Andrews award a DLitt to Professor Noam Chomsky, the father of modern linguistics and one of the world’s best known academics. The 83-year-old’s accomplishments include major contributions to science, philosophy and history and he has written over 100 books.
Prof Chomsky is also a noted critic of US foreign policy and contemporary capitalism.
Also being honoured at today’s ceremony in Younger Hall is author AS Byatt, who has won international success with her novels, including the Booker Prize-winning Possession, and her short stories and criticism. She was made a Dame in 1999.
St Andrews will also be conferring an honorary degree this week on Dundee-born writer and stand-up comedian AL Kennedy. Its other honorary graduands are poet Paul Muldoon, science broadcaster Simon Singh, Professors Stanley Hoffman, Michele Parrinello, Elaine Showalter and Sir John Meurig Thomas, along with environmental scientist Jesse Ausubel, South Africa constitutional court Justice Edwin Cameron and Dame Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Pearson.
Dundee University is taking the opportunity to honour 11 leading figures from Scotland and around the world at its ceremonies in Caird Hall.
Today will see an honorary degree conferred on Sir Mark Jones, the former director of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. He has played a key role in the £45 million V&A at Dundee project, which will see an international design centre built on the banks of the Tay. The university is one of the partners in the project.
Also receiving an honorary Doctor of Laws degree will be Perthshire-born adventurer Mark Beaumont, Dundee-born concert pianist Murray McLachlan and Justice Albie Sachs, who also hails from the constitutional court in South Africa.
Academics professor Iain Mattaj, Dr Malcolm Skingle, Dr Bernard Pecoul, professor Stephen O’Rahilly, professor Peter Boyle, professor Anne Marie Rafferty and the university’s own professor Peter Howie will also be honoured.See Tuesday’s Courier for printed lists of today’s graduands