Honorary Degrees

The University confers honorary degrees on individuals in recognition of their outstanding achievement or distinction. The University also bestows honorary fellowships on people who are representative of a group or institution, or to recognise a link between the University and a group or institution.

Honorary degrees recognise the achievement of people who:

• are of national and/or international academic distinction
• have made an outstanding contribution to national and/or international public life
• and/or who have enlivened and enriched the life of the nation through their activity or creativity

Honorary awards are not made to anyone who has any form of contractual relationship or paid consultancy arrangement with the University at the time of conferment. The University has been awarding honorary degrees and fellowships since 1991 when it was the University of Surrey, Roehampton.

Types of Honorary Degrees

The University can award the following types of honorary degrees:

• Doctor of Divinity (DD)
• Doctor of Laws (DLaws)
• Doctor of Letters (DLitt)
• Doctor of Science (DSc)
• Doctor of the University (DUniv)

List of Honorary Graduates

2012

• Professor Simon Baron-Cohen
• Professor Jean Bartunek
• Robin Knox-Johnston
• Mark Price
• Amerdeep Somal

2011

• Claire Tomalin
• Professor William Yule
• Hope Powell
• Derek Paravicini
• Priscilla Chadwick
• Mathew Bourne
• Lloyd Newson
• Yana Johnson

2010

• Akram Khan MBE
• Mark Morris
• Meenaxi (Meena) Patel
• Peter Preston
• Professor David Halton
• Sir Peter Blake

2009

• Professor Conor Gearty
• Anca Giurchescu
• Hina Jilani
• Dr Daleep Mukarji OBE
• Trevor Philips
• Nitin Sawhney
• Sami Yusef

2008

• Sister Dorothy Bell OBE
• Cherie Booth QC
• Reverend David G Deeks
• Peter King
• Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
• Professor Elaine Showalter
• Meera Syal MBE
• Geoff Thompson MBE

2007

• Sir Bob Geldof
• The Very Reverend John Hall
• Sir Nicholas Stern
• Dame Jacqueline Wilson

2006

• Shami Chakrabarti
• Stephen Daldry CBE
• Julian Filochowski CMG OBE
• Roger McGough CBE FRSL
• Douglas Robertson CBE DL
• Dr Peter Weston
• The Most Reverend Rowan Williams, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury
• Fellow of the University: Dr Bernadette Porter CBE

2005

• Professor Patrick Dowling CBE
• John Simpson CBE
• Fellow of the University: Baroness Pauline Perry of Southwark