Ed Sheeran... And Five Other Stars Who Have Honorary Degrees

Remember university? Remember how you slaved away for years to get your degree? Well the same rules don’t apply for celebrities...

When you are a celebrity you can be given an honorary degree, like Ed Sheeran who was granted an HD (that's our brand new slang term for honorary degree, just by the by) for his “outstanding contribution to music” by the University of Suffolk in October 2015.

Now, don’t get us wrong, we love Ed’s music, but did he write a dissertation for this degree? No, he did not. Did he slave away, weeping into his second-hand Mac book whilst surviving off only beans on toast for three out of the four weeks of the month? No, he did not. But far from being an anomolous event in the world of celebdom, it appears that you've only really arrived when you've been awarded an HD.

Here's our rundown of all the celebs who've been awarded one of these elusive and somewhat mythical qualifications...

Kanye West

Of course Kanye West has an honorary degree, of course he does. Kanye has a PhD from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago which he was awarded in May 2015 - so yep, that’s Dr Kanye West to you.

John Legend

Singer / songwriter John Legend was awarded his honorary degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2014. On the day he donned a rob with pink detailing - cute!

Oprah

Now we love Oprah as much as the next person but we still find it a little bit confusing that the TV host was granted an Honoary Doctor of Laws from Yale.

Eh?

Kim Cattrall

Kim Cattrall was award her HD from the Liverpool St John Moore’s University. The Uni’s Director of Corporate Communications, Janet Martin, commented: 'LJMU confers Honorary Fellowships in recognition of outstanding achievement in a given field or profession and to those who exemplify the University’s ethos to ‘dream, plan and achieve.’'

So, there you have it.

Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck’s HD in Fine Arts comes from the incredibly prestigious Brown University in Rhode Island. Swanky - go Ben!