The University of Durham has awarded honorary degrees to cabinet enforcer Mo Mowlam (DCL); Sir Martin Rees, astronomer royal (DSc); Ian Stephenson, artist (DLitt); and Audrey Warner (MSc).
Peter Cochrane, BT's chief technologist, has received an honorary degree from Nottingham Trent University.
The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, has awarded honorary degrees to Audrey Baxter, group managing director of
W. A. Baxter and Son Ltd (DBA); Margaret Smith, Aberdeen's Lord Provost (DIur); Paul Lawrie, 1999 British Open Golf Championship winner (DIur); Adrian Newey, technical director of McLaren International (DTech); and Alistair Grant, chairman of Scottish and Newcastle and a director of the Bank of Scotland (DBA).
The University of Plymouth has awarded honorary degrees to Denys Brunsden, founder of Geomorphological Services (DSc); Sir Ghillean Prance, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (DSc); and Robert Lenkiewicz, artist (DA).
Liverpool John Moores
University has awarded honorary degrees to poet Roger McGough and astronomer Patrick Moore.
Roger Pringle, director of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, has received an honorary MA from Coventry University.
The University of Strathclyde has awarded honorary doctorates of the university to Hamish Hardie, who helped bring the ship Glenlee back to the River Clyde, and Andy MacMillan, emeritus professor of architecture at Glasgow University and former head of the Mackintosh School of Art. David Tedford, professor at the Centre for Electrical Power Engineering, was named a fellow of the university.
Jack Levy, a former director of the Engineering Council, has become the first recipient of the Award of Excellence in Engineering Education from the World Federation of Engineering Organisations.
Denver Russell, chair in pharmaceutical microbiology at the Welsh school of pharmacy at Cardiff University, has been elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.
Saratov State University in Russia has honoured five staff at the University of Salford for their work in a four-year project to help it adapt to new technology. It has conferred honorary doctorates on Michael Harloe, vice-chancellor; Meriel Carboni,
deputy head of the international office and project leader; Richard Towell, head of languages; Juliet Wigmore, head of German; and Peter Atkins, information technology expert from Salford University Network Services.