German President to receive Degree by Diploma

Professor Roman Herzog, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, is to receive the Degree of Doctor of Civil Law by Diploma from the University of Oxford. Degrees by Diploma are conferred only upon heads of state and members of royal families. The proposal will go before Congregation on 15 October. A date for the ceremony will be confirmed for next year. President Herzog was born in Bavaria in 1934 and received a doctorate in Law from the University of Munich in 1958. He was a lecturer at the University from 1964–6, before becoming Professor of Public Law and Politics at the Free University of Berlin (1966–9), and then Professor of Political Science and Politics at the College of Administrative Sciences in Speyer (1969–73). His political career includes two years as Minister of Education, Cultural Affairs and Sport in the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, after serving for five years as official representative of the Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate at the seat of the Federal Government in Bonn. In 1980 he was elected as a member of the state parliament (Landtag) in Baden-Württemberg and became Interior Minister for the state (1980–3). During the following decade he served the Federal Constitutional Court, first as Vice-President (1983–7) and then as President (1987–94). He became Federal President of Germany in 1994. Since 1972 President Herzog has been a full member of the Synod of the Protestant Church of Germany, acting as Chairman of its Chamber for Public Responsibility from 1971 to 1980. Last year President Herzog attended the German launch of the `Europaeum', a network of select major European institutions including the University of Bonn, founded as the result of an Oxford initiative. During the launch, Dr Richard von Weizsäcker, former Federal President of Germany, was awarded the highest honour by the University of Bonn, which hosted the ceremony. The Chancellor of Oxford University, Lord Jenkins, gave the keynote address on `The European Union: Challenges of the Future'. During the last academic year (1995–6), there were 377 German nationals studying at the University of Oxford: 159 undergraduates and 218 postgraduates. It is hoped that President Herzog will meet some of them when he receives his degree. In recent years those receiving the Degree of Doctor of Civil Law by Diploma from the University have included King Juan Carlos I of Spain (1986); Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan (1991); President Mary Robinson of Ireland (1993); President Bill Clinton of the United States (1994); and President Nelson Mandela of South Africa (1996).