Vernon Kay gets an honourary doctorate from the University of Bolton for services to comedy (?) - wtf is that all about!? Haha. I'm currently stressed to buggery, going through a really unproductive phase and then I find that, really, all I need to be is a bit of a celebrity, have some cheapo shows on ITV, make a few people laugh and bingo!
Maybe it's because I'm ignorant of what they actually represent, maybe it's because I'm being childish, but do you not think it devalues what we do? I'd love to hear what anyone else thinks of this. I mean, an honourary degress is one thing, but a doctorate...?

I am with you on this one. It does kind of devalue what we do, it is stupid. I mean what does an honorary doctorate actually mean - what did he do for it?

======= Date Modified 10 Jul 2009 12:05:28 =======
I'm not really sure what honorary doctorates etc mean but I'm sure they don't enable application for an honorary post-doc.

I think it's just a way of lauding someone's achievements. But the scenario you report does come under the heading of 'scraping the barrel'. It's one thing to award them to people like Nelson Mandela, major contributers to the arts etc but the above actually devalues the concept of 'honorary degrees'. I don't think people in the real world change their perception of PhDs etc based on things like this.

Besides, surely if the Uni of Bolton were to award an honorary doctorate for comedy, it should go to PETER Kay. Maybe someone in admin just made a mistake.

Well, University of Bolton... says it all!

Is Vernon Kay a comedian? I mean, really? he just present crapt light entertainemtn progs,,, surely. But as someone else has already said - The University of Bolton - would you bother getting the train from London to collect it? Probably La Kay was too busy.

I don't think it necessarily devalues what real PhD students do as it is not recognised as being an academic achievement, like he wouldn't be able to get anywhere with it in the academic world. What is a honourary doctorate anyway? Would he be able to use a Dr. title? I don't think Vernon Kay really deserves it though, and I think its probably because he is the only 'famous' person to come from Bolton. Its probably not much more than an attempt to up the university's profile.

======= Date Modified 10 Jul 2009 13:26:15 =======
I mean it is strange. On the BBC website you can read that he said something along the lines of this being his proudest moment or so. Yes, of course it is right and good to laud people for their achievements, but in most cases, as this is, is it not enough to get TV/Radio/Media awards, and generally getting paid well, successful with your own show and all that..is that not enough? Why do these people in the "limelight" also have to get honorary doctorates - what are we left with? :-s;-) - uhh, sometimes it is nice to get yourself a bit wound up... simple distraction pleasures...

You have a valid point Walminskipeas...in fact, Italy agrees with you (they banned honorary degrees) and so does MIT.

It's got so silly that it now devalues the university more so than the degree - particularly when the odd celeb actually uses the title.

Dr Pamela Stephenson (Billy Connelly's wife) is getting an honorary degree from RGU for 'achievements in human sexuality' (her actual real degree is from an unaccredited US university).

======= Date Modified 10 Jul 2009 15:36:13 =======
A quick Google news search reveals a few more questionable recipients:

Bolton also gave Gary Neville a degree, and the founder of the band The Buzzcocks.

De Montfort gave Gary Lineker his THIRD honorary doctorate, along with Bill Maynard, who plays Greengrass in Heartbeat.

UCA (the University of Creative Arts...) honours Janet Street Porter.

Napier honours Sean Connery.

Cambridge honours a road sweeper.

Be a bit mixed ... it does devalue it a bit but it is only a title and it is thro' the work that you get the proper respect and recognition (in fairness, there are professors who only get the title from floggin' papers out thro' their students and don't know Jack about their content). System is flawed. Besides, how many of us conform to the classical image of the scholarly student at 3.30 on a Friday night?

It does bring up one important question though - did they do a Viva?

Doesn't Sean Connery do a lot of campaigning in Scotland in relation to politics? So maybe he does deserve an honorary doctorate? And I'm not just saying that because I lurrrvvvveeee him :-x Ok maybe just a bit...

As for the rest of them - yeah it's annoying, but at the end of the day, everybody knows it's not the same thing surely!?! I mean it's not like someone's going to go up to Vernon and say "well done on finishing the thesis mate, what was your topic?" I hope.

I think they are just things they give to people because they have a few spare and don't quite know what to do with them! They don't mean anything in the real world, and never would. They are probably just at the same level as the 'degrees' you can buy from the internet. - At a school I used to work at the head had new nameplates for members of the senior management teams with their qualifications underneath. If I had had one on my door it would have been twice as long as any of theirs. They just wanted an ego boost which i guess is what the honorary anything bestows - or perhaps they are expecting a donation or something

I'm with you on this - it doesn't make any sense, but no, I don't think they mean much. There are some people who are given honorary degrees where you think, yes, they didn't go to uni for whatever reason, but they've made one hell of a big contribution to society through their lives, then there are others, like Vernon, who is quite amusing sometimes when you just want to chill and not stretch your brain in any fashion (but I certainly wouldn't call him a 'comedian') and you think, why.......?????? What possible difference has he made through his contribution? An honorary doctorate is always going to be a bit of a kick in the teeth to those of us who work so very hard for so many years, but yep, I reckon he's the only person from Bolton that they could find and they felt that they had to give it to someone!