中国教育部副部长吴启迪在美国亚利桑那州立大学 (Arizona State University, ASU) 于2006年5月11日举行的春季学位授予典礼中，被授予荣誉学位。
亚利桑那州立大学授予吴启迪人文学博士 (Doctor of Humane Letters) 学位，以表彰她在领导高等教育方面的重要成就和在学术研究工作中的杰出贡献。
她正面临着与亚利桑那州立大学同样的挑战，即如何向不断增长的庞大的学生群提供优质的教育。她一直在研究亚利桑那州立大学的治学理念以及麦克。柯罗(Michael Crow )校长提出的新型美国大学（New American University）的理念和架构。
在她8年的校长任期中，同济大学提高了本科生课程质量及研究生的研究能力，实现了多学科交叉。她的努力使同济大学从一个领先的工科学院发展成为一座综合型的研究密集型的国际性大学，跻身于中国顶尖大学的行列。
由于其出色表现，吴启迪获得众多荣誉，其中包括1996年被国家人事部授予的有突出贡献的中青年专家，1997年“优秀留学回国人员”称号，1998年“全国十大女杰”，及1999年德国政府颁发的大十字勋章。
Arizona State University Awards Honorary Degree to Wu Qidi, Vice Minister of Education in the People’s Republic of China
Like ASU, Chinese institutions must master providing quality education to large numbers of students
TEMPE, Ariz. – Wu Qidi, vice minister of education of the People’s Republic of China, was awarded an honorary degree at Arizona State University’s spring commencement ceremony May 11, 2006.
ASU awarded Wu the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in recognition of her significant achievements as a leader in higher education and her exceptional work in academic research.
Wu oversees all Ministry of Education universities in China, which number around 70, and is guiding the transformation of many into major research institutions.
She is confronting a challenge familiar to ASU – figuring out how to offer a quality education to a large and growing number of students. She has been studying ASU’s approach and the concept and structure of President Michael Crow’s New American University.
Previous to her post as vice minister of education that she assumed in 2003, Wu was president of Tongji University. She was elected to that position in 1995, and was the first university president chosen by a democratic election in China.
During Wu’s eight-year presidency, the university increased the quality of its undergraduate curriculum, improved research competence through postgraduate programs, and became interdisciplinary. As a result, Tongji developed from a leading engineering school to a comprehensive, research intensive and international university, ranking among top Chinese universities.
Due to her outstanding work, Wu has been recognized with a number of awards including an Outstanding Young and Middle-aged Expert Award from the Ministry of Personnel in 1996; an Excellent Overseas Returned Scholar Award in 1997; and a National Ten Outstanding Women award in 1998. The German Federal government honored her with Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1999.
