(Photograph) - Nelson Mandela received eight honorary degrees at Buckingham Palace this week from the London School of Economics and Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Nottingham, Warwick, De Montfort and Glasgow Caledonian universities. President Mandela thanked the British tertiary education system for its help over many years in balancing South Africa's practical needs with long-term research and innovation. On a warm and supportive occasion there was no hint of the criticism that underlay requests earlier this weeek for fewer South African doctors to come to the United Kingdom.