Honorary Awards
validated by Calamus International University
Honorary Master's and
Doctoral Degrees
Choosing your honorary award –
details of honorary degrees available
The honorary doctorate is an award
granted to an accomplished individual by an academic institution as a
mark of public respect and acknowledgement. It is not an “earned” or
“academic” degree. It does not prove that any studies or research have
been carried out, even if a specific field of endeavour has been
mentioned on the certificate. It should never be used as a qualification
because it is not a qualification in itself. Traditionally, many
holders of honorary degrees from well-known campus universities have
received degrees in fields they have no expertise in. Calamus, though,
always ensures that there is a relevant connection.
The following degrees are available:
M.Univ. (Master of
the University) and D.Univ (Doctor of the University).
These degrees are honorary awards
that do not mention any particular field, though the certificate may on
request be inscribed with a citation such as “In recognition of
contributions towards … [inserting the particular field of endeavour]
The M.Univ. or D.Univ. may be
bestowed to recognise any outstanding record of achievement in
scholarship, professional activities, business entrepreneurship,
technology, creative arts, sports, politics, religion or serving the
community, e.g. through voluntary or charitable work. Most types of
achievement may qualify as long as the activities are legal, respectable
and part of an established reputation.
The Honorary D.D.
(Doctor of Divinity)
The D.D. may be awarded to priests,
clergy, pastors, chaplains, spiritual leaders, spiritually-oriented
therapists and healers, ministers of healing, or their lay or religious
equivalent in any faith, subject to approval. Scholars of religion and
theology may also qualify. Since CIU does not wish its degrees to
promote or encourage religious intolerance or coercion in any way, the
candidate may be asked to sign a pledge of commitment to peaceful
respect of members of all other beliefs and faiths, and willingness to
participate in inter-faith dialogue and friendship to increase mutual
understanding, tolerance and world peace.
By international tradition and
custom, the D.D. degree is usually understood to be honorary and does
not require the letters “h.c.” (see below) or the word “honorary” after
it. The word “honorary” or the phrase “honoris causa” does not appear
on the degree certificate.
If another religious honorary degree,
not the D.D. is desired, please contact us for advice.
The Honorary Ph.D.
The Honorary Ph.D. (Doctor of
Philosophy Honoris Causa) may be awarded in most fields EXCEPT Medicine,
Pharmacy, Nursing, Dentistry and any other field where use of the degree
is likely to cause misrepresentation. Candidates should normally have
a solid track record of work or scholarship in connection with the
desired field.
People in “sensitive” fields
mentioned above may still apply for honorary awards, and we will give
suggestions as to what might be an acceptable major for the award. For
example, an award in Health Education, Health Administration, Wellness
Studies or Health Care Management might be suitable instead of a
medical-related field.
Seekers of an Honorary Ph.D. in
Psychology, Counselling, Hypnotherapy etc MUST have prior academic and
professional qualifications in those fields. Self-study will not in
itself be adequate. Honorary doctorates in those fields are very rarely
awarded. Other fields of award are usually recommended instead. For
example, we might suggest an honorary doctorate in Personal Development,
or in Metaphysics for those practising in that area.
Other honorary
degrees
CIU can consider the award of the
following degrees to suitable persons:
· D.B.A. (Doctor of Business
Administration)
· D.R.E. (Doctor of Religious
Education)
· Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)
If your desired award is not listed
above please ask us as our Honorary Awards Committee is prepared to
consider new types of award in exceptional circumstances.
Higher Doctorates –
the D.Sc. (Doctor of Science) and D.Litt. (Doctor of Letters)
The Higher Doctorates are only
awarded to people who already have a doctoral degree.
The D.Sc. and D.Litt. degrees can be
semi-honorary and do not require the letters “h.c.” (see below) or the
word “honorary” after them. The word “honorary” or the phrase “honoris
causa” does not need to appear on the degree certificate, but we have
instituted the practice of including the words “honoris causa” to
prevent people claiming that their award was an earned one. Normally,
the D.Sc. or D.Litt. are awarded in recognition of a significant record
of achievement in an academic field, though this does not have to be a
formal dissertation.
If you do not have a doctorate and
still want to apply for a D.Litt. or D.Sc., the way to do so is to apply
at the same time for the degree of D.Univ. of Calamus International
University. A discount will be offered for both degrees, subject to
successful application. Another possibility, if you have sound
qualifications, is to ask us to consider accepting you as someone who
has the equivalent of a Bachelor’s degree. Conditions for this (and any
assessment fees necessary) will depend on each individual case, and we
can indicate the possibilities after we see your details.
Honorary
degrees are not "life experience" degrees
The
difference is that a life experience degree is usually a Bachelor's,
Master's or Ph.D. degree that does not say honorary or "honoris causa"
and that pretends to be an academically earned degree. Life
experience degrees usually come with "transcripts" for work that the
"student" has not done. Calamus International University does not
award "life experience" degrees. Transcripts are not issued
for honorary awards.
Arrangement Fees
for Honorary Awards
Since CIU began offering honorary awards in return for financial
contributions towards its private educational activities, the University
has been keen to safeguard the exclusive and special nature of its
honorary degrees. Unlike those who offer cheap honorary degrees to
anyone on the Internet, Calamus honorary degrees are limited in number
and normally fewer than 20 a year are awarded. Fees were originally on
par with taught degrees, to deter frivolous and unsuitable applicants.
This policy changed so that recently the typical fee was approximately
half the full fee for the corresponding taught/academic degree.
Because of the credit crunch our fees
for taught degrees have been reduced drastically, but the fees for
honorary awards have not been reduced so substantially because the
honorary degree is not for everyone and we still wish to ensue that
applicants have a certain status.
However we are prepared to consider
fee concessions for clergy, voluntary workers, retired persons of
limited means, and applicants from developing countries. We do not give
honorary degree concessions to unemployed persons, since being
unemployed does not indicate the level of achievement we are seeking.
Nor do we give them to business owners who wish to have an honorary
degree as part of their business image but who do not have a suitable
academic background to back it up. However, for business people who have
at least a bachelor's degree and/or professional qualifications, a
doctoral degree may be a key asset when conducting business in certain
countries where the title commands respect.
We are unable to enter into
negotiations regarding fees until we have a copy of your curriculum
vitae and/or resume and/or a completed application form. In this way we
will know that each applicant is serious and not a timewaster.
For the basic scale of fees please
see the fees schedule in the general prospectus or on the Calamus
website at
www.unicalamus.org/tuition.htm
Honorary awards
without fee
CIU does not award any honorary
degrees to general applicants without an arrangement fee, which is paid
to Calamus Extension College Ltd. The College carries out the assessment
work for the awards on behalf of the University.
On the rare occasions where CIU
awards an honorary degree gratis (free of any financial consideration),
the candidate does NOT apply to CIU but is nominated by the University
and invited to accept the award. If you are contacting us first, then
you should expect to be quoted the appropriate fee when we see your
career details, or you should expect to pay the fee mentioned in our fee
schedule at
www.unicalamus.org/tuition.htm
Unsolicited applications for free
honorary degrees will be destroyed.
Please note that CIU is not a charity
and does not receive any government or state funding. The same applies
to Calamus Extension College Ltd.
How to apply
In the first instance, you should
send us your curriculum vitae or resume and let us know the title and
field of the degree you are seeking.
Please note the following carefully:
All relevant information regarding
your education, career and achievements should be sent to us in a
standard CV or resume format with additional explanations if necessary.
If you expect us to honour you, we expect you to respect us by providing
a comprehensive portfolio of information regarding your application.
Please do NOT leave out important details and expect us to do the work
of looking them up on web sites, in Who’s Who, etc. If you do that, we
will simply destroy your application without replying. We receive many
enquiries and can only deal with them if we have the information in
front of us instantly in an easily readable form. It is your
responsibility to provide as much information as you can to enable us to
decide upon your eligibility. In particular, we must have full details
of previous education, including precisely who awarded your degree(s).
Demonstrating that you can submit an application in a considerate and
businesslike manner is part of the process of demonstrating that you are
worthy of an honorary award and that you are taking us seriously.
Based on the information you send us,
we will indicate your eligibility and quote you the relevant
arrangement fee for the award . This fee will be final and not subject
to further negotiation – do not expect to bargain with us or send us a
fraction of what we quote. Remember that we do not wish to compete with
the cheap degree providers out there and if you would like a cheap,
no-questions-asked piece of paper, we wish you the best of luck in
seeking it elsewhere.
We will also advise you of the method of payment though normally, for
honorary awards, we expect the payment by personal or company cheque (UK
only) or by bank transfer (wire transfer). Such a method of payment
provides additional confirmation of your identity and helps to avoid
false claims for awards, credit card and ID fraud, etc. For some
countries we do not release our bank details, on the advice of our bank
– unless we have known you well for some time.
Once you have paid the fee and we
have the completed and signed application form, your resume or CV plus
photocopies of your degree(s) and important qualifications or other
documents that we request, the degree will be processed, conferred and
despatched as soon as possible. Please allow up to 4 weeks to receive
the certificate (more for certain countries) but in case of urgency,
please contact us. Delays may occur if we have queries about your
qualifications or other details you have given us.
The assessment
process
The assessment process for the award
is multi-factorial and is not an academic assessment. Any or all of the
following may be taken into consideration:
Academic record, work record,
military service, service to the community, voluntary/charitable work,
philanthropy, publications, artistic works created or performed,
sporting achievements, independent scholarship, other honours and
awards obtained, citations for bravery, miscellaneous achievements,
professional memberships, etc. Each case will be different, and it is
the candidate’s responsibility to supply as much information as possible
to increase the chances of approval for the honorary degree. Wherever
necessary, we will ask for further clarification, proof of ID,
testimonials or other evidence we consider appropriate.
Please note
that we take care to verify details on application forms and supporting
documents and we will make further enquiries and spot checks to ensure
that applicants are genuine. We have had a number of applications in the
past from people who have supplied false information or false
identities. One applicant claimed to be a hotel tycoon who had been dead
for many years! Another used the name of a famous American sportsman
and gave us false information. A third claimed to be the director of a
company that had been struck off the register. Some people simply
refuse to give any details of their background or occupation at all.
In all such cases, applications will be declined.
Graduation
ceremonies
