The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
St Andrews University graduations
GRADUATION: Honorary doctorate awarded to Sir Ian McGeechan
The first day of summer graduations was held yesterday at St Andrews University when rugby legend Sir Ian McGeechan received an honorary doctorate. Picture: Gareth Jennings.
Rugby legend Sir Ian McGeechan was recognised for his contribution to the sport with an honorary doctorate as graduation ceremonies got under way at St Andrews University.
The former rugby union player and coach received an honorary Doctor of Science degree on the first day of summer graduations, which saw degrees conferred on students of physics, philosophy, film studies and social anthropology.
Sir Ian told graduates: “I hope you enjoy the benefits of good advice and great support from being with good people. Because it’s good people, I have found, who make the difference. They give you the roots to grow, that’s what good people do; and they give you the wings to fly, that’s what you do.”
In his laureation address quaestor and factor Derek Watson said that since Scotland’s Five Nations Championship and Grand Slam win in 1990 he has regarded Sir Ian “as a genius”.
Author and journalist Gillian Tett received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in recognition of her contribution to journalism and to the public understanding of business and financial cultures.
Having joined the Financial Times in 1993, she worked as a correspondent in the former Soviet Union. She is editor at large of the Financial Times US.
She said the Scottish Enlightenment, which put the country on the map as a centre of scientific and philosophical thought, was a “bedrock of so much of what is good about the modern world and needs to be upheld”.
Professor Graham Turnbull of the School of Physics and Astronomy told graduates their degree had prepared them for a rapidly changing world.
He said: “Be confident. Your St Andrews degree has prepared you well with the skills to analyse hard problems, with an unwavering respect for the facts and the truth, and with inventiveness and creativity.”