Bill Gates (L) receives the certificate of honorary doctorate from the master of Tsinghua University, Gu Binglin, on Thursday, April 19, 2007. [Photo: sina.com]

Bill Gates, chairman of global IT giant Microsoft, received an honorary doctorate when he visited China’s prestigious Tsinghua University on Thursday.

Gates also delivered a speech on innovation at the university. He was set to meet with government officials in the afternoon.

The IT multimillionaire will wind up his tour of Beijing on Friday with another speech at Peking University, then fly to Hainan province to attend the Boao Forum for the Asia Annual Conference 2007.

Gates kicked off his 10th China tour on Wednesday. He started his visit by meeting with HIV carriers at the disease control center in the Chaoyang District of Beijing.