Honorary degree for honorary alumni
An degree is an academic degree awarded by one university or college to an alumnus of another, in a process often known as incorporation. The recipient of the degree is often a faculty member at the institution which awards the degree, e.g. at the University of Cambridge, where incorporation is expressly limited to a person who "has been admitted to a University office or a Headship or a Fellowship (other than an Honorary Fellowship) of a College, or holds a post in the University Press ... or is a Head-elect or designate of a College".
An degree is not an earned degree.
History.
In the later Middle Ages it was common, when a graduate from one university moved into the neighborhood of another, for the new university to admit the graduate as a courtesy, "at the same degree" (in Latin, ). Thus if someone was a Bachelor of Arts in the university that they had attended, they would likewise be a bachelor of arts of their new university. Not every college extended this courtesy to all other colleges, however.
The practice of incorporation diminished in the early 19th century, but it continues at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and Trinity College Dublin.
Australia.
At the University of Sydney, members of the academic staff and general staff who do not hold a degree from the university, "and who have completed a minimum of ten years’ service prior to their retirement may be considered by Senate, on their retirement, for admission ad eundem gradum to an appropriate degree of the University."
Ireland.
A number of female students at Oxford and Cambridge were awarded "ad eundem" University of Dublin degrees at Trinity College, Dublin, between 1904 and 1907, at a time when their own universities refused to confer degrees upon women and were nicknamed "steamboat ladies".
Today, "graduates of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge are eligible to apply for corresponding degrees of" Trinity College, Dublin provided that they wish to register for a degree at Trinity College or are members of the academic staff, and pay the required fee.
South Africa.
Rhodes University in South Africa uses the term to give a student status to undertake a research higher degree based on experience, as opposed to an explicit qualification. In this case the student does not acquire a qualification, but is exempt from an entry requirement.
United Kingdom.
At the University of Oxford, incorporation first appeared in the University Statutes in 1516, although the practice itself is older: in the 15th and early 16th centuries, incorporation was granted to members of universities from all over Europe. In 1861, incorporation was restricted to members of Cambridge University and Trinity College, Dublin. In 1908, incorporation was further restricted to specific degrees from these universities. While not an earned degree, both original degree(s) and incorporated "ad eundem" degree(s) are given in post-nominals listed in the Oxford University Calendar.
After the foundation of the University of Durham in 1832, Durham made attempts to have its degrees recognised in the "ad eundem" system, introducing the first external examiner system, with all examinations co-marked by an Oxford academic, to assure the other universities that it was maintaining comparable standards. These attempts were rebuffed by the other universities, and eventually abandoned by Durham. Still, Durham granted graduates from other universities degrees "ad eundem" until the practice was abolished by the adoption of new university statutes in 1909.
United States.
Original use.
In the United States, the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts as a regularly awarded academic qualification from graduates of other colleges and universities generally dates from the colonial period, and was awarded at the institutions listed below.
Contemporary use.
Five US universities follow a tradition that only alumni may hold certain faculty positions, and in limited cases preserve the tradition of the "ad eundem" Master of Arts to the present day, with the specific circumstances described below.
Upon being awarded tenure.
At Brown and Harvard the degrees are awarded to those faculty who are granted tenure and the rank of associate professor, usually after approximately eight years of service to the university as an assistant professor or for a shorter amount of time for a professor with prior service at another university. Because these degrees do not involve any further study, many faculty members do not list them on their curricula vitae, although some, such as Francesca Gino, choose to do so given the exclusivity of the degree.
At Harvard the degree is described as given "ut in grege nostro numeretur" ("so that (s)he may be numbered in our flock"). During the 1950s, it was noted that the degree were "not announced at Commencement, or included in the printed list of honorary degrees circulated at that time, nor is there any 'citation.'" Instead, the President of Harvard would present "the diploma at the first meeting of the faculty following the recipient's appointment to permanent rank."
At Brown, the degrees have been awarded as a part of the annual May commencement ceremony.
Upon being promoted to full professor.
At Amherst, Wesleyan, and Yale, the degrees are conferred upon those who rise to the rank of full professor. Yale refers to this degree as the MA "Privatim". During the 150th anniversary of Princeton University, in 1896, 16 full professors were awarded the MA "Privatim".
At Amherst, in recent years, the degrees are awarded during first-year student convocation in August, at Yale it is an "elegant, brief ceremony, usual in February or March", and at Wesleyan as part of commencement in May.
Amherst College grants this degree to college faculty despite the fact that it grants only bachelor's degrees to its matriculated students. However, those professors who already earned a bachelor's degree at Amherst or Wesleyan by attending as an undergraduate are not presented with a second degree. In 2024, Amherst College President Michael A. Elliott called this additional rule a "custom, some might say a strange custom."
Posthumous awards.
In April 2023, the President of Yale, Peter Salovey, awarded M.A. "Privatim" degrees posthumously to Reverend James W. C. Pennington and Reverend Alexander Crummell, the first two black students at Yale, both of whom faced numerous incidents of discrimination and left Yale without earning degrees.
References.
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