Bollywood star and ‘Celebrity Big Brother' winner Shilpa Shetty says that she is surprised, honoured and humbled at being conferred an Honorary Doctorate by Leeds Metropolitan University.

Describing it as a "huge honour" and promising to live up to "expectations," the 32-year-old Shilpa received the honour from Leeds Metropolitan University at a special ceremony in Leeds Thursday morning.

"It came as a huge surprise to me and I am really humbled by the gesture," Shilpa said.

Shilpa was earlier presented with a Special IIFA award for the global impact of her "Big Brother" victory at the India International Film Academy Awards in Yorkshire.

Shilpa is the youngest actor from the Indian film fraternity to join the ranks of Bollywood mega superstar Amitabh Bachchan, veteran actress Shabana Azmi and producer-director Yash Chopra who have so far been conferred with the honour.

"Sharing the platform with great stalwarts like Amitji, Yashji, and Shabanaji is a huge honour," Shilpa said.

Thanking the University for selecting her for the Doctorate, Shilpa said, "You have bestowed this great honour on me and I promise to act responsibly. I have tried my best to do my best in whatever I have done in my life and I am going to continue to do so."

"It is like a dream come true. My parents always wanted me to be a graduate and today it has been realised with the Leeds Metropolitan University conferring the degree, Doctor of Arts, on me," Shilpa added soon after the special ceremony at Leeds.

Shilpa will be playing the lead role in a musical titled "Miss Bollywood" which will hit the theatre in Germany in the beginning of October. Subsequently, it will be shifted to London, she said.

"It came as a huge surprise to me as well. But I was really, really humbled and I accept it. I don't know how to react," Shilpa told in a television interview in London on being chosen for the honour for her outstanding contribution to cultural diversity.

Shilpa said it is going to be a "life-long relationship" with the university, but at the moment she will prefer to bask in the glory.