{"id":493763,"date":"2026-06-24T21:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/493763\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T21:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:19:11","slug":"dame-jacinda-ardern-receives-honorary-degree-from-oxford-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/493763\/","title":{"rendered":"Dame Jacinda Ardern receives honorary degree from Oxford University"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s really humbling to be part of today\u2019s ceremony – not just because of the amazing people I\u2019ve stood alongside today, but because just a few months ago I sat in the same space and watched as Oxford awarded a posthumous MPhil to M\u0101kereti Papakura<\/a>. which was so incredibly special.\u201c<\/p>\n

Papakura, a M\u0101ori scholar, was thought to be the first indigenous woman to study at Oxford, attending from 1927 and researching the customs of the Te Arawa people from a female perspective<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Oxford\u2019s vice chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey, said Wednesday\u2019s ceremony was a chance to celebrate and reflect on individuals\u2019 impact on the world through their \u201cdedication and vision\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, our nine honorands have each reached the highest levels of achievement in their respective fields, advancing knowledge, shaping society, inspiring audiences and improving lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir contributions exemplify the power of ideas and creativity to make an enduring difference, and we are proud to honour and welcome them into the Oxford family.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"DameDame Jacinda Ardern (far right) received an honorary degree from Oxford University on Wednesday, alongside eight other individuals who have had an “extraordinary” impact in their fields. Photo \/ John Cairns<\/p>\n

Degrees were also awarded to Nobel Prize-winning economics professor Daron Acemo\u011flu, Birmingham Royal Ballet director Carlos Acosta, actress and theatre director Adjoa Andoh, literary critic Henry Louis Gates Jr, biochemist Katalin Karik\u00f3, electronics engineer and inventor Shuji Nakamura and former GSK CEO Dame Emma Walmsley. <\/p>\n

The university\u2019s website says honorary degrees are \u201cthe most prestigious awards the university can confer\u201d and are only bestowed sparingly.<\/p>\n

Previous honorands include Nelson Mandela and Dame Judi Dench. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s really humbling to be part of today\u2019s ceremony – not just because of the amazing people I\u2019ve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13176,1567,1558,168,2947,31898,2740,71,42,82283,7568,13175,6722,3025,43,45968,13235,415,14901,107499,40,38,41,39,1528,9630,80],"class_list":["post-493763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-ardern","tag-awarded","tag-been","tag-ceremony","tag-dame","tag-degree","tag-former","tag-from","tag-headlines","tag-honorary","tag-honour","tag-jacinda","tag-minister","tag-most","tag-news","tag-oxford","tag-prestigious","tag-prime","tag-receives","tag-sweltering","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-university","tag-universitys","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}