Honorary degrees

HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY. DEng: Iain Vallence, chairman of British Telecommunications.

DLitt: Vivienne Westwood, fashion and textile designer; Martin Kemp, British Academy Wolfson research professor at the school of art history, St Andrews University.

DUniv: Muriel Spark, writer; Claus Moser, social statistician and member of the National Commission on Education; Ali Naimi, president and chief executive officer of Saudi Aramco.

MLitt: Ann Trotman, director of student welfare services at Heriot-Watt.

LEICESTER UNIVERSITY

DLitt: Albert Halsey, emeritus professor of social and administrative studies, University of Oxford; Angus Stirling, director general of The National Trust; Herman van der Wee, professor of History, University of Leuven.

DSc: Neil Cossons, director of the Science Museum; Stephen Gould, palaeontologist at Harvard University; Peter Williams, chairman of Oxford Instruments Group plc and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council.

LLD: Thomas Butler, Bishop of Leicester; Roy Harding, educationist and administrator; Robert Jennings, president, International Court of Justice; LeoMcCartie, Bishop of Northampton.

MA: Michael Nicholson, chief correspondent ITN; Josette Simon, actress; Mary Stott, journalist and author.

LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

DLitt: Jack Ashley, former MP and founder and former president of the Hearing and Speech Trust; Stephen Frears, film director; Evelyn Glennie, percussionist; Bert Millichip, chairman of the Football Association.

DSc: Tan Sri Dato' Othman Yeop Abdulla, secretary general, Ministry of Primary Industries in Malaysia; Kenneth Edwards, vice chancellor, University of Leicester; Brian Manley, senior vice president, Royal Academy of Engineering and member of university council; Alan Rudge, managing director, Development and Procurement, BT plc and chairman of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; Crispin Tickell, director, Green College Centre for Environmental Policy and Understanding, University of Oxford.

DTech: Richard Parry-Jones, vice president, Ford Automotive Operations.

MA: Dean Richards, player for England and British Lions and captain of Leicester Tigers Rugby Football Club; David Sainsbury, chairman and chief executive J. Sainsbury plc; Philip Tomlinson, county coroner for North Leicestershire and chairman, Loughborough Endowed Schools; Clive Williams, former headmaster of Holywell School.