GTEC needs support to sanitise tertiary education system

All over the world, a PhD is held in high esteem because it is the highest earned degree in a specialised area of competence. 

So, ideally, a PhD holder should be able to produce knowledge; therefore, it stands to reason that a country with a high number of PhD holders should translate to a knowledge bank.

It is in this direction that the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) has been on the path of purging the tertiary space of the use of honorary doctorates as titles.

It has so far written to certain personalities after some engagement, a general notice and a final warning.

According to GTEC, some of such individuals, after the engagement, agreed to purge themselves of the titles, while others defied the warning and continued to use the honorary doctorate as though it was earned.

Some of such individuals even put their ‘doctorate’ under educational achievements, a development the GTEC described as a total misrepresentation, illegal and at best criminal.

GTEC is therefore calling for public support to sanitise and protect the integrity of the country’s tertiary education space.

The Daily Graphic wishes to echo the call of GTEC and pledges to help the commission weed out those recalcitrant individuals who are bent on diluting the tertiary academic space and misrepresenting what they are not.

We commit ourselves as a media organisation to make available every resource to support GTEC to prevent the situation where every Ghanaian will be addressed as “doctor” or “professor.”

This should not be allowed to happen because Ghana will then become a laughing stock in international circles.

We, as a people, must jealously protect that enviable position, which historically placed Ghana as one of the promising countries when it came to tertiary education and delivery. 

The Daily Graphic finds it unfortunate that even when the odds are clearly against some of such individuals, they cling to it.

One serious aspect is the fact that some of such doctorates are not even honorary; they are fake yet people brandish them as though they were earned while the awarding universities are suspect.

We urge GTEC to push through to get those with fake doctorates prosecuted because it is criminal to carry fake documents.

A more worrying development is the situation where people are now professing to themselves an honorary professorship.

We are happy that academia is wading into the effort of GTEC to sanitise the tertiary space.

The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), last weekend, declared its support for the effort of GTEC to purge the tertiary space and promised to make its membership available for any assistance.

We commend UTAG for taking such a stance because if the use of an honorary doctorate is not checked, it would undermine the integrity of higher education in the country.

The Daily Graphic is disappointed that some of such individuals, when exposed, try to hide behind political colours to fight GTEC. We urge GTEC not to be deterred or intimidated by such comments.

GTEC should hold such people’s feet to the fire. There must be no turning back on this exercise. GTEC must go all out, and be assured that the majority of law-abiding citizens are behind it.

In view of the fact that there are some very influential individuals involved, we call on academia, civil society organisations, the media and, indeed, all well-meaning Ghanaians to throw their weight behind GTEC in this exercise.

The title ‘Dr’ is reserved for all those who are ready to submit themselves to go through the rigours of academic work and should remain as such.

We are aware that because of the important role some citizens have played in society, some universities decide to honour them by conferring on them, honorary doctorate degrees. 

That, in itself, is accepted because we have almost all our former and present Presidents being conferred an honorary doctorate degree.

The problem arises when such honours are misapplied as titles, making it difficult to differentiate the earned titles from the honorary ones.

It should be made clear that an honorary doctorate cannot be equated with an earned doctorate.

We suggest that any university conferring an honorary doctorate on anybody should make it clear to the recipient that an honorary doctorate cannot be used as if it were earned.  

So far, considering what GTEC has unearthed, it would not be out of place for President John Mahama to call for a full audit of the certificates presented by all appointees.

This is because some of the people whom GTEC wrote to occupy certain public offices, most probably based on their supposed qualifications.

Ghana's educational system remains a beacon in the sub-region, and the onus is on all of us to help protect its integrity by exposing such miscreants.

Congratulations to Prof. Ahmed Jinapor, the Director-General of the GTEC, on championing a cause many shied away from.