Dr Kingsley Nyarko, and his team with Professor Ebenezer Oduro and other members of the university
The National Accreditation Board (NAB) has called on individuals who have prefix honorary doctorate and professorial titles to their names to stop using them to avoid embarrassment.
Acting Executive Secretary of NAB, Dr Kingsley Nyarko, said NAB has plans to name and shame such individuals to engender sanity and avoid the abuse of such titles.
“Lots of people have doctorate degrees that are honorary and these degrees are not supposed to be prefixed across their names. We use them as part of our accomplishment by writing them on our curriculum vitae (CV) but now what do we see? All manner of persons calling themselves with these titles and this is really an abuse of the title,” he stressed.
He made this known when officials of NAB called on the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ebenezer Oduro, to spell out the vision of NAB and some specific plans it has in place.
With him was John Dadzie Mensah, deputy executive secretary in charge of monitoring and evaluation; Saaka Sayuti, deputy in charge of administration; Maxwell Amoako Kissi , head of credential evaluation; and Collette Hukpati, head of accreditation.
He continued that prefixing of doctorate and professorial titles across names is supposed to be used by those who have properly earned it from accredited institutions that have the mandate to offer such degrees; they are not supposed to be used by persons awarded with the honorary titles.
He blamed the media for not educating the public but rather joining the masses to address such persons with such dubious titles.
Among persons who particularly abuse such titles are businessmen, pastors and others who, even though have not attended any institution to acquire the title, but sit in their various offices to receive it especially from foreign institutions that are not even accredited.
The acting executive director in charge of NAB and his entourage also talked about the need for the two institutions to collaborate and verify the credentials of faculty and their lecturers to help flush out those lecturers using dubious certificates in the system.
The team also touched on some courses that have run for years in the university but have also not been accredited by NAB, adding that plans are in place for such anomalies to be corrected so that students who read such courses are not at a disadvantageous position.
In response, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ebenezer Oduro said there is the need to classify the various universities in the country to promote competition and remuneration.
He said it was sad that lecturers and vice-chancellors from universities are graded on the same pedestal with lecturers of technical universities.
Adding his voice, Professor Samuel Offei, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Academic & Student Affairs of the University, said they have strong collaboration with NAB.
He blamed the accreditation board for allowing certain institutions that are not up to the standard of a tertiary institution to award their own degrees adding that this undermines tertiary education.
(lindatenyah@gmail.com)
BY Linda Tenyah-Ayettey