Shiksha Opinion: Should celebs be given honorary doctorates?

We all agree that getting through college is a task in itself and after that if we think of pursuing a doctorate in a specific sphere, we know in our hearts that it is not going to be a smooth sail. We will have to let go of our “fun” lives and would need to be surrounded by books at all times. Our days would not revolve around friends, parties and Whatsapp but around assignments, submissions and thesis. So, basically we need to let go of everything dear to us just to have the prestigious “Dr” before our name. But what if someone less qualified and eligible than you gets this in a fraction of the time just because of their celebrity tag? I am sure you would not be happy about it.

You must have often read in papers about how some famous actor or cricketer has been awarded an honorary doctorate from various universities in India as well as abroad. And do not be surprised to find that some of these universities are fairly new and not heard off. Here the first question that comes to mind is – Why do universities do this? I feel the prime objective is to get publicity and media coverage. And I feel this is not right.

So, let’s have a look at some of the celebs who have been awarded honorary doctorates from different universities spread across the globe:

Name	Qualification	Universities Awarding Honorary Doctorate
Amitabh Bachchan	Double major in Science and Arts from Kirori Mal College, New Delhi	UK’s De Montfort University, Leicester Queensland University, Australia (refused) University of Delhi University of Jhansi
Shah Rukh Khan	Economics honours from Hansraj College, New Delhi. Masters in Mass Communication from Jamia Milia Islamia University, New Delhi (but dropped out)	University of Bedfordshire
Shabana Azmi	BA Psychology from St Xaviers College Mumbai Course from Film & TV Institute of India (FTII), Pune	TERI University Jadavpur University Leeds Metropolitan University Jamia Milia University Simon Fraser University
AR Rahman	Dropped out of school in 11th standard	Miami University Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Anna University Trinity College of Music Aligarh Muslim University The Middlesex University
Sachin Tendulkar	Failed in class 10th (He is said to have attempted the class 10th exam 10 times)	Mysore University (refused) Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (refused)
Akshay Kumar	MA from Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Mumbai Studied martial arts from Bangkok	University of Ontario, Canada University of Windsor (in law)
Javed Akhtar	BA from Saifiya College in Bhopal	Pondicherry University
Shilpa Shetty	BCom from Sydenham College, Mumbai Diploma in Fashion Design from SNDT, Mumbai	Leeds Metropolitan University
Lata Mangeshkar	Attended school for just a day	New York University Shivaji University Kolhapur University Pune University Khairagarh Music University Hyderabad University
Preity Zinta	Post graduate degree in Criminal Psychology	University of East London
Mahendra Singh Dhoni	Failed in finals of BCom at St Xaviers College, Ranchi	De Montfort University
Girish Karnad	Studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Lincoln and Magdalen Colleges in Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar	University of Southern California
Shiamak Davar	BCom	Middlesex University
Vikram (Tamil Actor)	BA English literature from Loyola College, Chennai Dropped out of MBA school	People's University of Milan
Gurdaas Maan	Studied at Eton College	Wolverhampton University, UK
Yash Chopra	Studied at Doaba College, Jalandhar and wanted to pursue engineering	Leeds Metropolitan
Sharmila Tagore	School drop-out (started working at 13 years of age)	Edinburgh University
Vishwanathan Anand	BCom from Loyola College, Chennai	Sathyabama University
Sunil Gavaskar	Studied at St Xavier’s College, Mumbai	Dr DY Patil University, Navi Mumbai
Hema Malini	Class 10th drop-out	Singhania University

So, you must have seen for yourself that most of the people who have been offered these honorary doctorates are either super-famous Bollywood celebrities or cricketers. However, one can argue that people who work behind the cameras such as scriptwriters, lyricists, and cinematographers also deserve such recognition.

The question arises when celebs who were not able to clear school and college are granted an honorary doctorate. For instance, Akshay Kumar was awarded a PhD by the Assumption University in Ontario, Canada in 2008. On being referred to as Dr Akshay Kumar, he was quoted as saying, “I can't believe this! I didn't even pass my college''. He has also been conferred a doctorate in Law from the University of Windsor, Canada. Or when a doctorate is conferred in an area where the celeb has had no role to play. As in the case of Lata Mangeshkar who has been awarded a doctorate in literature by India’s Shivaji University, Kolhapur University and Pune University.

When successful people associated with the film industry such as Amitabh Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar etc are awarded doctorates in Arts, it is appreciable but only till the time it is to honour them for their work and contribution to society and cinema. At no point should the motive behind this exercise be to get attract publicity and thereby find more students for admissions at the university.

The Universities should not pick up a celebrity only on the basis of their popularity as well as commercial success and award them these doctorates. They should spend some time and choose the most deserving candidates. So, if they want to acknowledge and award an actor then he/she should ideally be given honorary degrees in films, film making, arts etc and for sportspersons the degrees should be in the field of physical education, sports etc.

On the other hand, celebs should not accept these honorary doctorates from any institute that offers it. In fact, they should accept these honorary degrees in the field in which they have their expertise. By this I mean, it is absolutely ridiculous if an actor who did not even attend college is awarded a doctorate in, say, science!

However, there are also some celebrities such as Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan who have refused to accept honorary doctorates offered to them. While Sachin refused one such doctorate as he was still playing professional cricket, Amitabh Bachchan refused a doctorate by a foreign University due to hate crimes against Indians in that country.

A doctorate is a prestigious degree and it should be respected. However, I am not saying that actors and other celebs should not be honoured. They should be appreciated for their work, acknowledged and even given awards but that doesn’t mean they should be awarded in the academic field, especially one where they have no role to play, which is precisely how a doctorate is earned.

Disclaimer: The list of actors and honorary doctrates offered to them mentioned in the article is a list compiled by us, however, this is not a comprehensive list.