Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded an honorary doctorate by Oxford University on Wednesday, in the city where she studied and brought up the family she would later leave behind. The Myanmar democracy icon was presented with the doctorate in civil law at the prestigious seat of learning where she studied politics, philosophy and economics in the mid-1960s. Wearing a traditional longyi skirt under her scarlet academic robes, and flowers in her hair beneath her black velvet cap, Suu Kyi smiled as she received the honour at Oxford’s grand 17th century Sheldonian Theatre. University chancellor Chris Patten, the former governor of Hong Kong, handed her a gilded scroll as around 100 Oxford dons and students applauded, along with other recipients of honorary degrees including spy novelist John le Carre. He said in Latin: “Unbowed champion of liberty, who have given your people and the whole world an example of courage and endurance, I on my own authority and that of the whole university admit you to the honorary degree of doctor of civil law.” Suu Kyi was to make a speech after the presentation ceremony. Receiving the honorary doctorate was one of the highlights of her week-long trip to Britain, part of her first trip to Europe since 1988. On Thursday she will address both houses of the British parliament — a rare honour bestowed on only four foreign dignitaries since World War II. In an interview with BBC television on Wednesday, she confirmed her desire to lead the people of Myanmar “if I can lead them in the right way”. Suu Kyi spent nearly two decades in Oxford, and brought up her sons there.
