Honours at Cambridge University

James S collected his Master of Arts degree from Cambridge this week. Like most medieval universities, Cambridge has a system in which the MA degree is awarded as an honour after a number of years post-graduation with a bachelor's degree (with honours). The MA makes a person into part of the electorate of the university, voting on constitutional matters such as the Chancellor of the university. Last year James W (who also has a Cambridge MA) voted in this election, in which Lord Chris Smith was elected as the 109th Chancellor of the university. Lord Smith is a titan in the LGBT history of the UK; in 1984 he became the first openly gay male British MP and in 2005, the first MP to acknowledge that he is HIV positive. Lord Smith's experience in government and the HE sector make him a powerful champion for the university, and his election is not just a reward for his past contributions to our society, but also looking forward to decisive action.

In other universities, an MA is often an examined degree (such as James W's MA from the University of Leicester), and this can introduce confusion from outsiders to Cambridge, but masters' degrees that are examined have other names, such as MPhil (Master of Philosophy). The strength of the Cambridge honours system is less that it rewards, and more that it empowers (for example empowering the governance of the university to draw upon a wise electorate in a democracy).

James S collected his MA about a decade after he gained eligibility for it. Partly this is the product of a busy life, but also it is rooted in ethos. The MA is not sought for ego, but to empower and bring dignity to work yet to be done. In our case, we are sensitive to the need for the discoveries of great cultural importance that we carry to be handled with the solemnity of traditional ritual; and aside from the Coronation rites (whose clarity and power of connection to the histories of thought and faith our research has enhanced), graduation at Cambridge (by paying homage) is one of the oldest continuous traditions, having been observed in the same way and with the same words for over eight centuries.

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