In recent times, the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission has had to revoke academic degrees and titles carried by some individuals. It is very imperative to carefully scrutinize the Curriculum Vitae (CV) of such individuals by bodies that chance on them and advise the bearers accordingly. The trouble is that private consultations do not resolve the issues. Hence, the intervention by GTEC.
Let’s look at Doctorate degrees and Professorship titles. Universities the world over, offer Honorary Doctorate degrees(Honorary Causae). This is done in recognition of the individual’s contribution to the development in various fields of endeavour identified by a search party and approved by the institution. This is the perogative of the institution as set out in its statutes.
An individual may have one, two or three degrees and ascribes to himself/herself, the title, Dr. Dr. Dr. Whether one, two or three doctorate degrees, this leads to enormous confusion. The society is filled with numerous honorary degree holders, and it is impossible to make a distinction between the two (earned Doctorate and Honorary Doctorate).
These days, it is not easy to identify the source of the honorary degree. Do not get me wrong. You may decide to call yourself a doctor, but you should present your sources of award when requested.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Education recently banned the use of honorary doctorate titles. My candid opinion is that academic institutions should devise more ingenious ways of honouring individuals who would normally be awarded honorary degrees. Institutions could name structures, lectures, prizes, etc. after them; These landmarks and ceremonies remain in perpetuity.
There is one danger in carrying the title in a family of young ones who have aspirations to go into academia. These youngsters will one day ask the source of your PhD title and would obtain a cascading tale without concrete answers. I commend our past Heads of State for avoiding the use of Honorary Doctorate titles. Let’s emulate them.
The other area of concern is Professorial titles. Years ago, the distinction between Associate Professor and a Professor was not latent. The Associate Professor always aspired to reach the pinnacle. But here we are, both titles are merged as equals in public. It is not surprising that magicians, radio presenters (one of whom is my son), herbalists etc etc, relish the use of the title. Again, in CV’s, close scrutiny is necessary to ascertain the authenticity of titles and degrees as properly earned or otherwise.
More importantly, in order not to confuse the use of these titles, individuals may advise themselves to avoid their use if they have not acquired them properly. They may also have to ask themselves if the enhancement they seek in their public image is really necessary at all.. In some jurisdictions, academic titles are not used by politicians. The preferred title, HONOURABLE, is a very special title.
By Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi
Autor: Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Forner Minister of Education, Republic of Ghana.
Editor’s note: Views expressed in this article do not represent that of The Chronicle
