4 ms·

Exactly. Another form of brand marketing. I do wonder how/when these started.

by gregr401 11y ago

jacquesm 11y ago
It started as a way to recognized important contributions to a field outside of the academic process.
- rdc12 11y ago
  The article that started this conversation, completely disagrees with you, and they cite the historical record of the early honorary degrees.
  - coldtea 11y ago
    One example of an early honorary degree (the one the authors of said article probably found with a quick search in Wikipedia) doesn't capture the practice through the centuries, nor how it was established and used in other countries. There's a difference between "first" and "representative of how a thing caught-on and came to be established and practiced" -- the first uses might not be representative of neither the reason for widespread adoption nor current use. There are countries whose universities need (and do) no marketing at all otherwise, because they are public and state sponsored, but still give honorary degrees to honour important contributors from outside the academic field.
    - deong 11y ago
      And the very same article addresses that point as well. From the first one granted in the 15th century to the most recent granted a few months ago, honorary degrees are extremely highly correlated with the important contribution the individual made to the university's coffers, or secondarily to people whose names lend some sort of beneficial aspect to the university. I just looked up my doctoral university's list of awardees, and by coincidence, wouldn't you know that one of their names is on the college of business and another on the relatively newly formed institute of technology. What are the odds? :)
sampo 11y ago
> I do wonder how/when these started. This article should answer your question. It was recently posted (har har har) in HN: http://priceonomics.com/why-do-colleges-give-out-honorary-degrees/ http://priceonomics.com/why-do-colleges-give-out-honorary-de...

Exactly. Another form of brand marketing. I do wonder how/when these started.

jacquesm 11y ago

It started as a way to recognized important contributions to a field outside of the academic process.

rdc12 11y ago
The article that started this conversation, completely disagrees with you, and they cite the historical record of the early honorary degrees.
- coldtea 11y ago
  One example of an early honorary degree (the one the authors of said article probably found with a quick search in Wikipedia) doesn't capture the practice through the centuries, nor how it was established and used in other countries. There's a difference between "first" and "representative of how a thing caught-on and came to be established and practiced" -- the first uses might not be representative of neither the reason for widespread adoption nor current use. There are countries whose universities need (and do) no marketing at all otherwise, because they are public and state sponsored, but still give honorary degrees to honour important contributors from outside the academic field.
  - deong 11y ago
    And the very same article addresses that point as well. From the first one granted in the 15th century to the most recent granted a few months ago, honorary degrees are extremely highly correlated with the important contribution the individual made to the university's coffers, or secondarily to people whose names lend some sort of beneficial aspect to the university. I just looked up my doctoral university's list of awardees, and by coincidence, wouldn't you know that one of their names is on the college of business and another on the relatively newly formed institute of technology. What are the odds? :)

sampo 11y ago

> I do wonder how/when these started. This article should answer your question. It was recently posted (har har har) in HN: http://priceonomics.com/why-do-colleges-give-out-honorary-degrees/ http://priceonomics.com/why-do-colleges-give-out-honorary-de...