Pride in the recognition of achievement is only human, but recipients of honorary doctorates and the institutions that bestow them must clarify what it means — or risk diminishing the worth of the titles earned by academic effort.
It is an established practice for universities around the world to occasionally award honorary doctorates to individuals who have made a significant contribution to a particular field or in society in general. It is a practice with a long history dating back to the 15th Century.
However, there are sometimes controversies around these, including sometimes suspicions of unscrupulous bestowments to underserving individuals. As a result, many institutions have elaborate requirements and procedures, which may include nomination of a worthy candidate accompanied by motivation and CV, which is then considered by relevant committees in terms of specific rules.
University of Oxford’s website notes that the institution conferred the first honorary doctorate to Lionel Woodville in the late 1470s — “without the usual academic exercise”. From that moment, a tradition was established in universities to confer honorary doctorates to members of society who had made an outstanding or significant contribution in their fields. It is very pleasing to see many of our institutions following this example.
Increasingly in South Africa, institutions of higher education, both public and private, have been conferring honorary doctorates to people they believe have excelled in their fields. We say ‘believe’ because institutions are making a subjective, independent, and individual assessment separate from others. This is an important exercise allowing people who make a considerable and exemplary contribution to society to be recognised. The Latin phrase used for the degree is Honoris causa, which means “for the sake of honour”.
However, institutions often do not adequately take members of the public into their confidence regarding when recipients can call themselves doctor or accept to be called doctor. In the absence of this crucial edification, many members of the public are oblivious to what it means to be a recipient of an honorary doctorate. Some practitioners in the media also seem to be underinformed and they often address recipients of such doctorates as doctors in circumstances where they should not.
Ferial Haffajee’s 17 November 2022 article in the Daily Maverick about the Johannesburg Roads Agency and its Chief Executive Officer, Tshepo Mahanuke states that Mahanuke insisted on his staff calling him doctor when he does not hold a medical degree or an academic doctoral degree. Instead, he ...