Alex Salmond has picked up an honorary degree from Glasgow University.
The former First Minister and SNP leader became a doctor of the institution, the fourth oldest university in the UK, in recognition of his contribution to public life.
Mr Salmond, who is bidding for a return to Westminster, received the accolade in a ceremony at Bute Hall, before delivering a public lecture.
He said: "I'm absolutely delighted to receive this honour from the University of Glasgow - one of Scotland's most distinguished institutions, which has truly shaped the world we live in throughout its history.
"And to this day, Glasgow remains at the vanguard in terms of teaching excellence and research.
"I am extremely proud of what the SNP in government has achieved for Scottish education - principally the abolition of tuition fees, which has restored a long tradition of education based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay."
Principal and vice-chancellor Professor Anton Muscatelli said the decision to grant the award continues a long tradition at Glasgow University of recognising "major contributions to public life from across the political spectrum".
Previous recipients of honorary degrees include former first minister Donald Dewar, Sir Menzies Campbell, Charles Kennedy and George Younger.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown is set to be handed an honorary degree by the institution next week.
Prof Muscatelli said: "All political observers recognise that Alex Salmond is a dominant figure in Scottish politics. In a parliamentary career that spans almost three decades, he was twice leader of the SNP, and the longest-serving first minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014.
"Higher education was a key part of his programme for government and in spite of challenging economic circumstances, his government supported the global ambition of Scotland's universities whilst encouraging access from all who had talent and ambition to learn.
"Mr Salmond led Scotland during what was arguably the most important period of constitutional debate in the last 300 years, leading to the 2014 independence referendum. He stood down as first minister and SNP leader in the aftermath of the referendum, but in seeking to return to Westminster at the forthcoming General Election he continues to play an important role in British politics."
Mr Salmond is campaigning to be elected MP for the Gordon constituency, a seat held by the Liberal Democrats at the 2010 election.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article