Honorary degrees

University of Southampton

DSc: David Rhind, incoming vice-chancellor of City University, director-general of the Ordnance Survey, visiting professor in the university's department of geography; The Thrust SSC Design Team: Ron Ayres (chief aerodynamicist), Glynne Bowsher (chief mechanical designer), Andy Green (driver), Jerry Bliss (systems designer), Mike Horne (composites), Nick Dover (workshop manager), Chris Cowell (engines).

DSc (Soc. Sc.): Kenneth Dibben, former treasurer of the university, director of USS, the national universities' pension fund and member of the board of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association; Gavyn Davies, partner, chief international economist and head of European investment research at Goldman Sachs.

Keele University

DLitt: William Brock, fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge, professor emeritus of modern history at the University of Glasgow and fellow of the British Academy, former Charles Warren Fellow at Harvard and Leverhulme emeritus fellow.

LLD: Margaret Stacey, professor, member of the British Sociological Association, president of the Association for Welfare of Children in Hospitals (Wales) and member of the Welsh Hospital Board and the Davies Committee on Hospitals Complaints Procedure.

DMus: John Drummond, writer and broadcaster, controller of Radio 3 (1987-92) and the BBC Promenade Concerts (1986-95), director of the European Arts Festival (1992), vice-president of the British Arts Festivals Association, chairman of the National Dance Coordinating Committee, governor of the Royal Ballet.

Open University

DUniv: Alan Ayckbourn, dramatist, artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, winner of the Play and Players Director of the Year Award; Brian Pearce, chairman of the Royal London Society for the Blind, chairman of Pearce Group Holdings (until 1996) and president of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (1994-96); Diana Warwick, chief executive of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals, former chief executive of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, and general secretary of the Association of University Teachers; Elizabeth Carnegy, life peer, member of the university's council (1984-96) and vice-chair from 1994, chair of the Scottish Community Education Council; Roger Penrose, knight and Rouse Ball professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford; Armando Trindade, founder of the Universidade Aberta, president of the International Council for Distance Education, founding member of the European Association of the Distance Learning Universities and European Distance Education Network;

John Bourn, comptroller and auditor general, chairman of the Board of Audit of United Nations, visiting professor at London School of Economics; Jung Chang, author of the award-winning book Wild Swans; Rudolf Schaffer, professor emeritus at the University of Strathclyde, formerly psychologist at the Tavistock Clinic and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow; Benoit Mendelbrot, professor, inventor of fractal geometry, winner of the Wolf Foundation Prize for Physics and the Medaille de Vermeil in 1996; You Poh Seng, former executive director of the Singapore Institute of Management; Adele Goldberg, founder and director of Neometron Inc., author of books on the Smalltalk computer programming system; Pauline Neville-Jones, dame, political director in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1994-96), leader of the UK delegation to Dayton negotiations resulting in the Bosnia Peace Agreement (1995); Lewis Wolpert, chairman of the Committee for the Public Understanding of Science, professor of biology as applied to medicine at University College, London; Judith Howard, foundation professor of structural and materials chemistry, University of Durham, president of British Crystallographic Association (1992-96);

Ian MacDonald, chairman of the board of governors, Commonwealth of Learning, director of York International, president emeritus, professor of public policy and economics; Yilmaz Buyukersen, president of Eskisehir Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences in Turkey, which became Andolu University; Lionel Blue, rabbi and regular contributor to Radio 4 programmes, founder of the Standing Conference of Jews, Christians and Muslims in Europe, past chairman, Assembly of Rabbis; Sigmund Sternberg, founder of the Sternberg Centre in London, chairman of the executive of the International Council of Christians and Jews, co-founder of the Three Faiths forum, fellow of Leo Baeck College, Paul Harris fellow of the Rotary Club, London.

MUniv: Betty Burton, novelist and writer for radio, theatre and television, winner of the Chichester Festival Theatre Award; Susan Humphries, head of Coombe Infant School, Reading, founder member of Learning Through Landscapes Trust; Eileen McDonald, president of Open University Students Association (1992-94), manager of a training project for the National Schizophrenia Fellowship; James Arnold, director of tourism and conservation at New Lanark, chairman of the Association of Independent Industrial Museum and Heritage Sites; Lilias Noble, vice-chairman of Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland and education adviser to the Scottish Prison Service (1997); Tyrone O'Sullivan, former NUM lodge secretary, director of personnel for the Tower Colliery; Margaret Humphreys, author and social worker, awarded the Order of Australia Medal, director of the Child's Migrant Trust; Michael Murray, chief executive of Milton Keynes Borough Council; Prue Fuller, director of the Aiding Communication in Education Centre, Oxford, president elect of the International Society for Alternative and Augmentative Communication, trustee of the Foundation for the Advancement of Assistive Technology.

University of Essex

Honorary degrees have been awarded to: Helen Bamber, founder and director of the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture; Evelyn Glennie, solo percussionist; Hugh Johnson, author and broadcaster; Brian Oakley, director of Logica (Cambridge) Ltd; Colin St John Wilson, architect and emeritus professor of architecture, University of Cambridge.

University of East Anglia

DCL: John Colville, viscount, Queen's counsel, special rapporteur on human rights in Guatemala (1983-86), chairman of UN working group on disappeared persons (1981-84), member of the university's council (1968-72).

LittD: Graham Swift, novelist and Booker prizewinner; Bob Holman, commentator and writer on social issues; Gita Sen, professor of economics at the Indian Institute of Management; Itay Zimran, educator and dean of the David Yellin Teachers College, Jerusalem; Christopher Wrigley, professor and past president of the Historical Association.

ScD: David Hopwood, professor of genetics at the university and head of the department at the John Innes Centre; Chris Evans, biotechnology entrepreneur; James Clark, creator of Netscape.

MA: Kenneth Ryder, organist and master of music at St Peter Mancroft, Norwich.

MSc: Trevor Baylis, creator of the Freeplay wind-up radio.