Get To Know What Is Honoris Causa Degree, Its History And Criteria

President Soekarno received Honoris Causa Doctorate degrees from various universities at home and abroad. (WIKIPEDIA)

YOGYAKARTA – General Chairperson of the PDI Perjuangan (PDIP) and the 5th President of the Republic of Indonesia Megawati Soekarnoputri received the Honoris Causa title on Monday, October 2 2023. This title was obtained from Universiti Tun Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Selangor, Malaysia. Apart from this, do you know what an honoris causa degree is?

Get To Know What An Honoris Causa Degree Is

The title Honoris Causa is often given as a form of recognition for a person's life experience. This title is awarded with the title H.C which means honoris causa (in Latin it means for the sake of honor.

Quoted from the International Qualification website, the H.C title is given as a form of respect and is not given by completing certain academic requirements. Recipients of this degree are sometimes not related to the awarding institution, but recipients are people who are considered to have contributed in a particular field.

On the Society for U.S. website Intellectual History states that the practice of awarding Honoris Causa began in European universities in the 15th century. The first degree was awarded at Oxford University in 1478 or 1479 to Lionel Woodville.

The awarding of the Honoris Causa title itself was initially considered an unusual thing. However, in the 16th century, awarding degrees began to become commonplace, especially at less well-known universities.

The awarding of the title Honoris Causa is intended to ensure that recipients have the same rights as recipients of other degrees, for example in including their doctoral title at the beginning of the title owner's name.

In Indonesia, the Doctor Honoris Causa degree is called the Honorary Doctorate Degree. In the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI), an Honorary Doctorate is defined as a doctoral degree given to someone from a university as a tribute to their extraordinary services in the field of science or in the field of society.

In Indonesia, the awarding of Honoris Causa degrees is regulated in the Republic of Indonesia Government Regulation Number 43 of 1980 concerning Guidelines for Awarding Honorary Doctorate Degrees (Doctor Honoris Causa). In these regulations it is also explained that the title of Honorary Doctorate is given to someone who has services and/or work with the following criteria, as stated in Article 2.

• Outstanding in the fields of science and technology, education, and teaching;
• Which is very meaningful for the development of education and teaching in one or a group of scientific, technological and socio-cultural fields:
• Which is very beneficial for the progress or prosperity and well-being of the Indonesian nation and state in particular and humanity in general;
• Which extraordinarily develops good and beneficial relations between the Indonesian nation and state and other nations and countries in the political, economic and socio-cultural fields;
• Who extraordinarily contribute energy and thoughts to the development of higher education.

Please note that not all universities can award an Honorary Doctorate degree. Universities must meet the criteria as intended in Article 2 paragraph (1), namely as follows.

1. Has produced graduates with doctoral scientific degrees;
2. Having a faculty or department that fosters and develops the field of science related to the field of science which is the scope of services and/or work for awarding the degree;
3. Have at least 3 (three) Permanent Professors in the fields referred to in point b..

That is information regarding what an Honoris Causa degree is. Visit VOI.ID to get other interesting information.