Honorary doctorate losing value?

The increased and rampant award of honorary doctorate degrees by both local and international universities in the country has raised concerns about its current value.

Previously a rare honor, institutions are these days conferring the esteemed award on individuals at a rapid rate, causing concern in the education sector as people question the capacity of some of the awarding institutions.

Honorary PhDs are also promoting an obsession with titles, as recipients of the accolade tend to insist that the title Dr. be prefixed to their names – and one nowadays struggles to know which PhD is honorary or academic.

The alarming aspect of the issue is that even institutions that do not have a Presidential Charter to award any kind of degree – earned or conferred– are also involved in the practice.

The Executive Secretary of the National Accreditation Board, Mr. Kwame Dattey, confirmed the worrying trend, saying it is an illegality where institutions without a charter to award degrees confer honorary doctorates on individuals.

“The NAB has noticed with concern the spate of conferment of honorary degrees and emeritus professorships on some personalities by some unaccredited institutions that are not qualified to conferthe degrees on people,” he said.

According to the Executive Secretary, there are instances where some foreign institutions confer such honorary degrees on prominent personalities with the intent to legitimise and popularise the operations of their institutions locally to attract or increase enrollment.

He implored personalities invited for such awards to verify the accreditation status and degree-awarding power of those institutions that seek to confer on them honorary degrees to avoid any embarrassing fallouts.

Mr. Dattey said any institution awarding honorary PhDs without a charter is in contravention of Regulation 19(1) of Legislative Instrument 1984, which states that “an accredited institution shall not issue certificates or award its own degrees, diplomas or honorary degrees without a charter granted to it for that purpose by the President of the Republic of Ghana.”

Therefore, accredited private tertiary institutions operating under the mentorship of chartered, degree-awarding universities are not qualified by themselves to confer honorary degrees, he added.

Some academics contacted by the B&FTon the issue said the award of honorary doctorates is not a bad idea, but urged honorees to ascertain the capacity of any institution to bestow the honor.

Dr. Richard Boateng, a Senior Lecturer of Information Systems at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), told the B&FT that the doctorate degree is the key to a lot of doors in life, and that a PhD, whether conferred or earned, is given based on the skills and competence of the individual.

He said some institutions confer honorary degrees on personalities to announce their presence.
“Some institutions do it to position themselves; therefore, before one is awarded an honorary PhD, the beneficiary should find out if the institution is new or traditional like the University of Ghana that has the accreditation to award such degrees.”

Recently, some institutions, mostly ones that launched barely a year ago, have honored individuals in the country with doctorate degrees.

Dr. Boateng said most honorary doctorate degrees are given at the discretion of the selection committee of the awarding institution.

“Whether the person deserves it or not, the decision lies with the selection committee,” he said.

Prof. Joshua Abor, a professor of finance at the University of Ghana Business School, said the honorary doctorate is normally a recognition for one’s contribution to an institution, field or some work one has done.
He however added: “It has become so common and all kinds of institutions are giving honorary doctorates. Butit is still a degree and must be awarded by an institution that has a charter.”

The Registrar of the Ghana Technology University College, Prof. Patrick Bobbie, said universities give honorary doctorates to people who have had an impact on society and made significant contributions in business, politics, science or academia.

But he said it is not something that is given all the time, adding that ideally, an institution could do it once every two or three years.

“I don’t know what criteria they use. It is not something that is given out very often. It doesn’t mean much and the person cannot use it to seek employment because that would be illegal. You do not have the qualification because it is just an honorary degree.”

He also said if the person receiving the award has not achieved anything significant, then its value is reduced.

“That would not be a good marketing strategy for the institution because it would mean that it is not credible enough and it would be very bad for its image.”

Among the about 68 tertiary institutions in the country, there are only 14 chartered degree-awarding universities which by law have the powers to confer degrees and honorary degrees.

Public universities generally have charters, but Valley View University, Trinity Theological College and Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Research Institute are the only chartered private tertiary institutions which are eligible to award degrees.

By Benson Afful & Bernard Yaw Ashiadey | B&FT Online | Ghana