Honorary degree
An Honorary Doctorate ( Dr. hc. , Dr. hc, in theology and D. ) is an honorary award given to a university or faculty, which is awarded for special academic or scientific merit.
Honoris causa
The term honoris causa ( hc. ) Is derived from the Latin and means honorary ' (originally, honor 's sake ' or ' because of ' honor ' ). If a person has received at least two tributes, so is the abbreviation h c. mult. usual, which stands for honoris causa multiplex, ie the multiple honorary doctorate.
Award
The honorary doctorate will be awarded primarily due to outstanding achievements in the field of science. The award is often awarded on the occasion of a general or direct services to the university or the faculty, even if this is not a formal requirement in the rule. A typical case is the award of an outstanding scientist who has made an outstanding contribution as founding dean in a special way for the faculty. Often, the ceremony will be the honorary doctorate for political, financial or other reasons, in which the excellence of the scientific achievements of the honoree is not always recognizable. In international comparison, German universities handle the ceremony rather cautious.
The honorary doctorate is an honor for merit and not an academic degree of Doctor, which is awarded after completing a university degree and a doctorate examination by deed. To the awarding of an honorary doctorate check is not provided. The procedure and the precise conditions for the award regulate the doctoral regulations of the university faculties. In general, the honored at the ceremony holds an academic lecture.
The honorary doctorate is right for the Institutes of Technology was introduced in Prussia by decree of Emperor Wilhelm II in October 1899.
Examples of honorary doctoral
In many universities the PhD regulations of the faculties also regulate the honorary doctorate. However, some universities have centralized arrangements for the honorary degree:
Records
Most honorary doctorates, namely 150, received the American Catholic theologian Theodore Hesburgh ( * 1917 ), which is why it leads the Guinness Book of World Records for decades as the title holder in this respect. More than 120 honorary doctorates were until today Daisaku Ikeda ( born 1928 ), president of the Soka Gakkai International awarded. Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) received more than 50 honorary doctorates. 47 honorary doctorates received the American Richard Buckminster Fuller ( 1895-1983 ). Tenzin Gyatsho ( b. 1935 ), the XIV Dalai Lama, have been awarded 43 honorary doctorates, mostly from American universities.