(1)    All members of the Council and the Senate shall be invited once each year to submit to the Honorary Degrees Committee, through the Vice-Chancellor, in confidence, nominations for honorary degrees, provided that they shall also have the right to submit nominations in confidence to the Vice-Chancellor at any time.

(2)    The Honorary Degrees Committee (hereinafter referred to as ‘The Committee’) shall be appointed annually by the Council and shall be composed as follows:

The Chair of the Council, who shall be Chair of the Committee

The Vice-Chancellor

The Pro-Vice-Chancellors

Two lay members of the Council appointed by the Council.

The Committee shall meet at least once in each academic year to consider the names of persons on whom it is proposed to confer honorary degrees.

(3)    The Committee shall consider and report to the second meeting of the Council in the Autumn term upon the nominations submitted to it provided that, with the consent of two-thirds of the members present at the meeting:

(i)    the Committee may itself make additional nominations for honorary degrees and may seek additional nominations from other members of the University in order to obtain a properly balanced list.

(ii)    the Committee may seek advice from members of the University on the merits of those candidates under consideration.

The Committee shall recommend the names of the persons on whom it is proposed that honorary degrees shall be conferred and the title of the degree to be conferred in each case, bearing in mind the purpose for which the honorary degrees of Doctor and Master have been instituted.

(4)    The list of names recommended by the Committee shall be put to the vote by the Council, and if the list receives a majority of the votes of the members of the Council present at the meeting the list shall be deemed to have been approved in its entirety. If the list does not receive a majority of the votes the Council shall determine by ballot the names to be approved, and an honorary degree shall not be conferred upon any person who does not receive a majority of the votes of the members of the Council present at the meeting.

(5)    If the Council withholds approval of any of the names recommended by the Committee, or if any of the persons whose names have been approved by the Council is unable to accept nomination, the Committee may, as soon thereafter as may be, submit additional recommendations for the conferment of honorary degrees. The Council shall vote upon the names so proposed under the procedure laid down under (4) above.

(6)    The whole proceedings in the selection of honorary graduands shall be held to be strictly private, and no communication regarding the proceedings shall be made, without the authority of the Council or the Honorary Degrees Committee, to any person who is not a member of the Council.

(The Ordinance on Honorary Degrees is Ordinance 14)