Academics at a leading Scottish university are to strip Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, of an honorary degree he was awarded 23 years ago.

Edinburgh University is expected to take the decision after a panel of three professors recommended revoking the honour.

Students, politicians and campaigners have all repeatedly called for the honorary degree to be withdrawn in light of Mr Mugabe's human rights record. The panel has decided that if the university had known the reality of Mr Mugabe's leadership in the early 1980s, he would never have been presented with the award.

At a meeting on Wednesday, the senate will be informed of the recommendation to withdraw the degree and, providing they vote in its favour, Mr Mugabe will be told of the decision and requested to return the certificate he received in 1984.

Jaison Matewu, organising secretary for the UK branch of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabwe's opposition party, welcomed the decision.

"We are thrilled," he said. "When he was given this degree people were looking at him to turn Zimbabwe into a better country for his people.

"He has turned out to be a monster who is bent on destroying the economy of the country and killing his own people. He does not deserve anything at all."

Mr Mugabe, 83, became President of Zimbabwe in 1980 and was awarded the honorary degree, for services to education, four years later.

Pressure on the university to strip Mr Mugabe of the award has intensified. In November 2005 students voted in favour of a motion which called on the university to strip Mr Mugabe of his degree. The motion was passed with 540 votes for and none against.

In April, Nigel Griffiths, MP for Edinburgh South, tabled a parliamentary motion calling on the university to withdraw Mr Mugabe's honorary degree.

Mr Griffiths said the decision should be made "in light of the recent oppressive and brutal regime over which he is presiding".

The panel of three senior professors from the university investigated Mr Mugabe's record and looked in particular at the massacre of up to 20,000 people in Matabeleland during the early 1980s.

They concluded that Mr Mugabe, who also holds honorary degrees from two universities in America, would not have received the degree if the facts were known at the time and now he should be stripped of the accolade.

Ross Neilson, vice-president of academic affairs at Edinburgh University Students' Association, said: "Hopefully this sends a message that his actions cannot be tolerated.

"It sends out a bad message internationally that people like him can be awarded such a prestigious honour.

"The students overwhelmingly voted for the degree to be revoked and they will stand proud of the decision."

Mr Griffiths, who recently met the Principal of the university to discuss the issue, added: "It is good news and reflects what both graduates and undergraduates want."

A spokesman for Edinburgh University said the senate would be informed of the panel's recommendation at a meeting on Wednesday.

He added: "The group is recommending that the degree conferred in 1984 should be withdrawn. This recommendation has been made after examining evidence relating to the situation in Zimbabwe in the early 1980s - evidence which was not available to the university at the time.

"If the senate decides that the honorary degree should be withdrawn the formal process for so doing will begin."