Mr Richard Cerdin Griffiths was educated at Jesus College, Oxford and joined the UK civil service in 1939. After a series of postings in the Admiralty, the Royal Navy, and the Treasury, he became Deputy Secretary of the UK University Grants Committee in 1963 and remained in that post until his appointment as Director of the Inter-University Council (IUC) for Education overseas in 1970. When the University Grants Committee (now UPGC) was established in Hong Kong in 1967 he was appointed a member. In 1978 he was awarded the Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for his services to the UK government and higher education and in the following year received the honorary degrees of Doctor of Laws and Doctor of Science respectively from the University of Malaya and the New University of Ulster and was also given the Symons Award (by the Association of Conmonwealth Universities) for his outstanding services to the Universities of the British Commonwealth. He retires from the IUC and the local UPGC at the end of the year.
In recognition of his service to higher education in the Commonwealth (as Director of the IUC during 1970 to 1980) and in Hong Kong (as a founder member of the UPGC during 1967 to 1980), the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa.
