The President was a postgraduate student at the University of Manchester from 1968 to 1971, where he studied urban sociology and the lives of migrants in cities.

His visit also falls on the 200th anniversary of the University of Manchester's founding in 1824 and the tenth anniversary of his State visit to the UK in April 2014.

In his remarks at the conferral ceremony, Mr. Higgins cited research on Manchester in the 19th century, one of which suggested that more than half of the 10,000 workers who constructed the Manchester Shipping Canal were of Irish descent.

“That project, 36 miles long, is symbolic of the great contributions of the Irish navvies who lived and died building it, along with the railways, roads, mines and towns of Britain,” he stated.

The President claimed that his first exposure to Manchester in the 1800s gave him a deep and enduring interest in migration.

He said that in addition to terrible poverty, inequality, and migration, the city 200 years ago when the institution was founded was a city of arrogance.

President Higgins added that following his time at Manchester, he taught some of the first sociology of migration courses in Ireland, among other places, at the University of Galway.

In appreciation of his services to literature and public life, Nazir Afzal, Chancellor of the University of Manchester, awarded him the degree of Doctor of Letters honoris causa.

Mr Higgins told the crowd: “I am confident that Manchester University, drawing on a tradition of scholarship, using old tools in a new way, will continue to play a crucial role in tackling the interlocked crises we face on our burning planet.”

The university's Whitworth Art Gallery served as the venue for the conferral event.

The honorary degree complements the President's collection of honours from academic institutions on other continents.

President Higgins will give the first lecture in the John Kennedy series, a brand-new yearly lecture series, tomorrow.

“Of the consciousness our times need in responding to interacting crises and the role of Universities as spaces of discourse in facilitating it,” is the title of his presentation.

The President is scheduled to meet with many university and other institutional contacts, some of whom he has collaborated with on academic projects in the past.

In addition, he will meet Irish community members who have been invited to the open lecture.