Gourley has been awarded 14 honorary doctorates from universities on four continents and, in 2014, Gourley was awarded the Outstanding Educator Award by UNISA University of South Africa which acknowledges her 'significant contribution to our society in the area of primary/pre-primary, secondary or tertiary education.' In 2009 Gourley was named as one of the UK's most inspiring women in the Women in Public Life awards, receiving the International Public Servant of the Year and overall Outstanding Achiever awards. Honours and awards Honorary Degree: LLD, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom (1997) Honorary Degree: D.HLett, University of Richmond, United Kingdom (2004) Honorary Degree: D.Ed., by the University of Abertay, United Kingdom (2004) Honorary Degree: D.Phil., Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan (2007) in recognition of her eminence in the field of Distance Education and distinguished service to humanity, Honorary Degree: HC, Université du Québec à Montréal(2007) Honorary Degree: DCom, by the University of Pretoria, South Africa (2008) Honorary Fellowship of the Open University of Israel (2008) in recognition of her commitment to broadening access of the community to Higher Education. Honorary Fellowship of the Commonwealth of Learning (2008) Award of Individual Prize of Excellence by the International Council for Open and Distance Education (2008) Symon's Medal awarded by the Association of Commonwealth Universities for contribution to Higher Education in the Commonwealth (2008) Honorary Degree: HC, by the Open University in the Netherlands (2009) Fellowship of the City and Guilds of London Institute for services to Higher Education (2009) Award: International Public Servant of the Year Award made by Women in Public Life Initiative and Overall Outstanding Achiever of the Year Award made by same body (2009) in the United Kingdom. Honorary Degree: HC: by The Open University of Catalonia, Spain (2011) Honorary Degree: D.Phil., University of South Africa (2011) D.Phil. - in recognition of her contributions to Distance and Open Education Fellowship of The Open University (2011) Honorary Degree: D.Phil., University of Gloucestershire (2011) Honorary Degree: D.Ed., University of Witwatersrand (2012) Honorary Degree: D.Ed., University of South Africa (2013) UNISA Calabash Award 2014 UNISA (2014) References External links Biographical data Biographical data Living people People associated with the Open University 1943 births White South African people