Glittering prizes

Gerry McKenna, vice-chancellor of the University of Ulster, has been awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Coleraine.

Cricketer David Gower has been awarded Heriot-Watt University Sports Union's Honorary Blue for 2000.

Kenneth Harris, professor of chemistry at the University of Birmingham, has won a Royal Society of Chemistry Corday-Morgan Medal 2000.

Paul Bowen, professor of mechanical metallurgy at Birmingham, has been awarded the Rosenhain Medal and Prize by the Institute of Materials.

Malcolm Scott, head of the school of modern languages at the University of St Andrews, has been designated Chevalier dans L'Ordre des Palmes Academiques by the French government.

Clare Palmer, a lecturer in the department of religious studies at the University of Stirling, has been awarded the 2000 Science and Religion Course Award.

The University of Kent has awarded honorary degrees to astronaut Michael Foale (DSc); Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah (DLitt); Jack Reading, co-founder of the Theatre Museum of Great Britain (DLitt); Alain Dubrulle, vice-chancellor of the Universites de Paris (DCL); Jeremy Mallinson, director of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey (DSc); and the Countess Mountbatten of Burma, charity worker (DCL).

King Alfred's College, Winchester, will award honorary degrees to David Quayle, co-founder of B&Q (DBA); Baroness Warnock, former mistress of Girton College, Cambridge (DLitt); and Rosemary Dunhill, Hampshire county archivist (DLitt).

Liverpool John Moores University will award honorary fellowships to Delia Smith, TV chef and director of Norwich City FC; Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder and chairman of easyJet; Gerard Schwarz, principal conductor and music director of Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; David Hope, archbishop of York; Sara Parkin, programme director of the Forum for the Future; John Bird, founder of the Big Issue; and Hugh Doherty, founder of Liverpool's Rapid Hardware store.