Honours even again
After the beleaguered Pro Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University, Hilary Lappin-Scott, gave her New Year predictions and told staff what to give for Christmas, Edwin Phillips reads another congratulatory email from her, explaining the decision to award honorary degrees, including one to Wales football manager, Chris Coleman.
T0: all underlings.
From: Your dear leader, Hilary.
It is an exciting time for Swansea University!
We have just awarded an honorary degree to Chris Coleman, the highly-succesful manager of the Wales football team, who steered the national side to a loss against Portugal.
At our Bay campus, which I know you all love so much, we have also awarded degrees last week to other important and well-known people.
We presented an honorary master of science (MSc) to Roger Blyth, chairman of a club specialising in an oval ball game called something to do with a bird.
Ha!
We awarded too, a doctorate in science to the Vice-Chancellor of the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu in Kuala Lumpur, Prof Dato Dr Nor Aieni Haji Mokhtar.
Academics like my good self and politicians are vital to the promotion of Swansea and women’s rights.
I was delighted that the former Plaid Cymru AM Helen Mary Jones was honoured by us, and is now a doctor with lots of letters after her name.
I was also so pleased that she was awarded her honorary degree by Prof Elwen Evans QC, the first female head of the College of Law and Criminology.
Both are wonderful examples of women like me working quietly and effectively for “… equality and social justice”.
As you all know I am a great believer in women who work quietly and effectively for equality.
Forget those small-minded critics who say honorary degrees are given to anyone, or that irritating ‘vexatious’ website The Eye.
They reported that ridiculous Piercy business, which unfortunately people still talk about and sent our student application numbers down.
This is an important moment.
Not only is this great institution rising in important league tables, and I am playing a vital part in raising the profile of Swansea on my crucial travels which I have told you all about, but now we are acknowledged as a go-to destination among sports fans, politicians and academics with funny names!
Ignore that nonsense about footballers receiving honours from failing universities.
Just because Bolton University, ranked fourth from bottom in league tables, awarded 63 honorary degrees, and made the former Manchester United and Wales footballer Ryan Giggs a Doctor of Science in 2014.
After all, more than 1,400 honorary degrees have been conferred by British universities since 2011.
We all remember Bobby Barnes, who played for West Ham between 1980–86, and was made a Doctor of Science by the University of East London (UEL) last year.
Well, I don’t remember him obviously.
It is absurd to suggest the awarding of these honorary qualifications has anything to do with the fact that a lot of these are from among the 50 lowest-ranking universities in Britain.
What rot!
They are all important institutions.
Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge and Chelmsford has moved up to 108th, and they have awarded doctorates to a very fast horse racing man called Frankie Dettori, the swimmer Mark Foster, the BBC sports presenter Manish Bhasin and the Olympic gymnast Louis Smith.
People I believe known as ‘celebrities’ also play an important part.
The Minogue brothers have also been honoured and brought huge respect to their institutions.
Dannii Minogue, a popular music star and former judge on a television programme known as ‘The X Factor,’ was made a Doctor of Media in 2011 at Solent University in Southampton.
His relative, Kylie, is an Honorary Doctor in Health Sciences at Anglia Ruskin.
Nearer to home, it is a similar picture among universities which are far lesser than our own.
An Honorary Doctorate was given to a very important fashion designer, who was well known to watchers of the television — not me of course.
Mr Jeff Banks, who was on something called ‘The Clothes Show’, was awarded a degree by the University of South Wales,
And they’re the biggest in Wales.
Need I say more!
Yours breathlessly,
Hilary.
Tomorrow how Hilary got her facts wrong on the first woman professor.
