Honorary title (academic)

Honorary Professor

In the UK, this is the highest title to be awarded to individuals whom the university wish to appoint, honour, and to work with. These individuals are not university staff nor employees. An external person is usually recommended by an internal university academic staff, and recommended for approval by the head of department, for which the documents are then forwarded to faculty dean, vice president and president (or deputy vice chancellor) for approval.

Examples of UK universities who award honorary professorships are University of Essex, University of Manchester, Brunel University, Middlesex University, University of Bristol, Leicester University, and University of Exeter. Procedures for evaluation and approval are overseen by university personnel or registrar office. Appointments are made formally by an appointment letter, for a fixed period of time (usually three years) and renewal is possible. Honorary professors are expected to contribute to the department of the university through giving seminars and joint research with university staffs. Requirements vary from university to university but contributions are expected from the appointee.

In Taiwan, more titles are used to recognise different levels of individuals. They are (in descending order of hierarchy):

• Honorary distinguished chair professor
• Honorary chair professor
• Honorary distinguished professor
• Honorary professor
• Honorary associate professor
• Honorary assistant professor

In China, top universities like Fudan University, Tsinghua University and Peking University have awarded honorary professorships. Recent recipients include Peter Bruce from Oxford, Reinhart Poprawe from Aachen Germany, Thomas Sargent and Anwar Ibrahim.

In Australia, Australian Catholic University, University of Queensland, RMIT, University of Western Australia, University of Wollongong, University of Canberra and Macquarie University all allow the appointment of honorary professors.

In New Zealand, University of Otago, University of Waikato, and University of Auckland also have provisions for the appointment of honorary professors. Recently, Richard Taylor was appointed honorary professor at Massey University. Mike Murphy of the Mitochondrial Biology Unit at University of Cambridge was appointed to honorary professor at University of Otago in 2016.

In Denmark, the honorary professor title is conferred in recognition of a person's special contribution to the subject area associated with faculty's activities. Honorary professors are expected to:

• Participate in research partnerships
• Give lectures
• Participate in PhD co-supervision or PhD examination committee

Although honorary professors are not paid a salary, the following expenses are usually compensated:

• Travel and accommodation during visits to university
• Daily expenses such as cost of meals
• A lecture fee

Aarhus University is an example university in Denmark that confers honorary professorships.

Honorary President

Honorary President holds a largely ceremonial position without functional responsibilities or mandatory attendance requirements. The responsibilities of a president typically include representing the organisation as the top executive, providing planning and vision, and maintaining a professional public presence.

Honorary Fellow

In certain UK universities, the title of Honorary Fellow is awarded to people from industry, whom the university wish to recognise and collaborate with. For example, the London School of Economics, Imperial College London, University College London and Queen Mary University of London all have provisions for the award of honorary fellowships. The University of Hong Kong also awards honorary fellow and a recent award was made to Harry Shum from Microsoft Corporation.

Various professional bodies, such as the Royal Institute of British Architects and IET UK also have honorary fellowships.

Honorary Lecturer and Reader

Persons of lower prestige and academic achievements are appointed at ranks other than professor. Honorary readers are viewed higher than honorary senior lecturer and honorary lecturer. A person can be promoted to the next higher honorary rank on recommendation by the internal university staff and department. Once approved at the university level, the title is then changed.

Visiting appointments

This is often confused with honorary academic titles. A visiting professor or reader or senior lecturer or lecturer is someone who has taken time off their primary institution of employment to visit and collaborate with staff from another university. Hence, the visiting appointment is usually for a short period of time, ranging from three months up to a year. This is not the same as an honorary appointment held in UK universities.

However, in Germany, visiting lecturers and private lecturers can be conferred the titles of Honorarprofessor or Außerplanmäßiger professor respectively after several semesters of successful teaching.

Benefits

In addition to the honour and recognition, an honorary title sometimes permits non-employees to enjoy the privileges available to regular staff members, such as access to facilities and libraries, temporary stay in university housing, entitlement to a university business card, an email account, and to receive a parking permit.

References

References

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2. (2014). "Honorary Academic Titles for Non-Employees". Imperial College, London.
3. "Visiting Fellowships". All Souls College, Oxford University.
4. (15 April 2013). "York scientist awarded Royal Society Industry Fellowship". University of York.
5. "OPU Distinguished Honorary Professor Awardees list".
6. "University of Manchester Honorary Appointments".
7. "Brunel University Honorary Appointments Policy & Procedures".
8. "How to Engage Honorary Academics and Associates, University of Bristol".
9. "Honorary Titles Criteria, University of Leicester".
10. "Honorary appointments, Exeter University".
11. "Peter Bruce awarded Honorary Professorship by Fudan University".
12. "Reinhart Poprawe Named Honorary Professor at Tsinghua University".
13. "Professor Thomas Sargent awarded Honorary Professor of Peking University, 2018".
14. "BERNAMA - Anwar Says Tsinghua University's Honorary Professorship Reflects Enduring Malaysia-China Friendship".
15. "Honorary Professorial and Academic Titles".
16. "5.20.15 Honorary and Adjunct Title Holders - Policies and Procedures Library - the University of Queensland, Australia".
17. "Honorary and Visiting Academic Appointments Policy, RMIT University".
18. (16 June 2022). "University Policy on Honorary Appointments : Human Resources".
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24. (5 June 2018). "Sir Richard Taylor appointed honorary professor".
25. Peck, Penny. (Mar 31, 2016). "Mike Murphy appointed Honorary Research Professor, Otago".
26. "Honorary President (Definition)".
27. "Honorary President (About)".
28. "Academic appointments and honorary associations, Imperial College London".
29. "Dr. Harry Shum - 2017 Honorary University Fellow".
30. (6 October 2009). "RIBA announces 12 Honorary Fellowships". Royal Institute of British Architects.