THE former President of the Federal Republic of Germany is to be honoured by one of the region;s universities this week.

Dr Horst Koehler, who served from 2004 to 2010, will be awarded an honorary degree by the University of York.

He is one of eight figures from the worlds of journalism, politics, business and the arts who will be conferred with honorary degrees at graduation ceremonies on Friday and Saturday.

Others include pianist, poet and author Alfred Brendel and Vasily Petrenko, the chief conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Sacha Romanovitch, the first woman to lead a major City accountancy firm, and Rob Wilmot, one of the three founding executives of Freeserve will also be honoured.

Degrees will also go to the award-winning BBC journalist Orla Guerin, the engineer, educator and government advisor Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya and Dame Vivian Hunt, managing partner for McKinsey & Company’s UK and Ireland offices.