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.

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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.

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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.