Honorary Professor – Everything You Need to Know in 2024

Teaching in an educational institution means that not only do you have to teach the students but will also have to work hard to get a higher title. There are a lot of titles that you will have to work hard during your period of delivery. Some of the common titles that you may have heard about are associate professor, assistant professor, etc. One such uncommon title you can get in the institution is of Honorary professor. If you also do not know much about it, here we will help you to know more about the honourary professors and also discuss related titles.

Quick Takeaways

• An honorary professor is one who is not a professor in the institution but will be getting the position of honorary professor due to their recognised contribution to the university.
• The main difference between an honorary professor and a normal professor is that when you get the honorary professor title, you will not get paid. However, if you are a normal professor you will be getting paid to work.
• Following are the related titles to honorary professors-

1. Honorary associate professor
2. Honorary lecture
3. Honorary senior lecturer
4. Honorary Fellow

However, you must read til the end so that you get a better understanding of who is an honorary professor and what are the related titles.

Who is an honorary professor?

An honorary professor is one who is not a professor in the institution but will be getting the position of honorary professor due to their recognised contribution to the university. They may be an employee at the university and sometimes they may not be a part of the institution. Therefore they are given to the people on an unpaid basis. In some countries like the UK, it is one of the highest positions that is given to someone whom they want to work with as a part of honour. However, you must remember that it is given to the person only to honour them and therefore they are not paid at all.

What is the difference between an honorary professor and a normal professor?

The following table shows the difference between a normal professor and an honorary professor-

Honorary Professor	Normal Professor
An honorary professor is one who is not paid.	Normal professors get paid to perform duties in the institution.
It is a title that is given to someone who has a great contribution to the institution inside or outside of it.	They are generally part of the institution and have to perform.
You will not have to perform different types of duties that other professors have to perform	You will have to teach the students, evaluate their marks, etc.
You will be getting this title when you are much older and have been given a specific time for the job.	You will be getting this title once you are selected as a professor in the specific institution.

Is it worthy to get a ‘Honorary Professor’ title?

Although you will not have any extra pay for getting the Honorary Professor, there are many other benefits that you will be getting for it. If you are a retired professor then you may get the privilege to again come to the institution. In addition to that you may also be allowed to have regular visits, and also may use the regular facilities like the library and other resources. They may also give you an official email account and get to stay on the university campus.

Further as discussed above it is given to the person who has contributed greatly to the institution. You will get it when you will be serving the institution for a lot of years. Thus it means that getting an honorary professor title is definitely worthy as it is given to you for your extremely great contribution to the institution. However, remember that just like Professor is capitalized, you will also need to capitalize the Honary professor title.

How to become an Honorary professor? 

Following are the steps to become an honorary professor-

• To get this position you must have at least a higher degree like Master’s or PhD qualifications. 
• You will need to complete the undergraduate degree first to get your higher degree.
• Additionally, you will need to work hard for the institution so that you can give the honorary contribution to the university.
• Make sure that you have done a lot of hard work as it will help the institution to know more about you.
• You will have to work for at least 10-15 years to get this title. 
• You may have to take the written assessment test to make sure that you have a good knowledge of different things. 
• You may also get a recommendation from someone who has already worked in this position. It helps to bring the notice of the members of the institution. 
• Once the recommendations are made and the board team evaluates everything about the professor, then assessments are made. 

What are the factors that affect your selection to get an honorable professor title?

The following are the factors that affect getting the honorable title-

• Educational background
• Recognition as a leading expert 
• Outstanding professional achievement
• Entrepreneurial activity

What are the related titles to honourable professors?

The following are different titles that are related to honorary professors-

1. Honorary associate professor

It is the position given to those professors who have full-time tenure in the institution. To get this position you will have to work hard and make a regular contribution to the activities of the university or the college you are teaching in. You must be academically qualified and should have the highest degrees like PhD and master’s.

2. Honorary lecture

If you are giving a significant contribution to teaching the research work on an unpaid basis then you will be getting an Honorary lecturer title. 

3. Honorary senior lecturer

Again it is given to the person who is regularly teaching or giving a contribution to the university at an unpaid level. You will usually get this title if you have having high degree and are in collaboration with the institution for a minimum of 12 months.  Further, you will get the title on the basis of your accident performance in teaching.

4. Honorary Fellow

Although it may not be a common title in most universities, you must know that this title is given to the person who has contributed greatly to the research or in teaching under the supervision of a person on the academic staff.

Do you get an honorary professor title for a specific period of time?

In most institutions, it may be for a specific period of time. Of Course, when you get this title you will have to perform different duties that the institution expects from you during this period. These institutions may also extend your title period if you have completed the expectation during the period for which the title was given to you. However, in other institutions, there may not be a fixed period of time and you may get this title till the time you retire.

Conclusion

An honorary professor is one who is not a professor in the institution but will be getting the position of honorary professor due to their recognised contribution to the university. They may work outside the university and make a great contribution to it. However, there are a lot of differences between the honorary professor and the normal professor like the duties, time taken to get the title, and the pay you get. There are a lot of different related titles to the honorary professor like honorary lecturer, honorary fellow, etc.