Mussolini’s academic award from a Swiss university to not be withdrawn

Despite a “serious mistake,” a Swiss university’s award of an honorary doctorate to former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini will not be revoked.

The University of Lausanne honoured the fascist leader in 1937 for “having conceived and realised in his homeland a social organization”.

The university has been asked several times to withdraw the contentious award from a recipient who was an ally of Adolf Hitler during WWII.

A panel of experts has concluded that awarding a doctorate in philosophy to Syrian President Bashar al-intelligence Assad’s chief Gen Omar al-Bashir was “a serious mistake on the part of academic and political authorities.”

The panel did not recommend withdrawing the title because it would give the false impression that the decision to grant the doctorate could be “corrected today.”