UGM mulls title for Iliescu

YOGYAKARTA: Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Rector Sofian Effendi said on Wednesday the university was considering awarding Romanian President Ion Iliescu an honorary doctorate.

He said the university's Professorial Council had formed a team to gather the necessary information on Iliescu needed to grant the president a recipient of the academic title.

Iliescu visited the university as part of his trip to the sultanate town. He also visited Prambanan temple, some 20 kilometers east of here.

Sofian said the university had received a call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asking about the possibility of awarding Iliescu an honorary doctorate in culture and humanities.

"I hope to relay the decision of the council to Your Excellency in time," Sofian said in his welcome remarks.

During his visit to the university campus, Iliescu handed over some 20 books on reform and globalization, national integration, and poverty elimination that he wrote.

President Iliescu had lunch at Yogyakarta Palace with Sultan Hamengkubuwono X and visited Borobudur temple in the Central Java town of Magelang before flying to Bali through Adi Sumarmo Airport in Surakarta. -- JP