It is illegal for doctorate degree holders to use the title ‘Doctor’ – NAB warns

People who have been conferred with honorary doctorate degrees must desist from using the title ‘Dr’, the National Accreditation Board (NAB) has warned.

Executive Secretary of NAB, Mr Kwame Dattey, said the Board has observed a growing trend of unaccredited institutions rewarding honorary doctorates to some persons in Ghana.

This, he said, has become worrying, adding that it is illegal for anyone conferred with a doctorate degree to use the title ‘Doctor’.

An extensive research conducted by Dr Prosper Yao Tsikata and Dr A. Kobla Dotse concluded that many private universities do not have the right to confer doctorate degrees because they are unaccredited.

The two professors named ten institutions in their report, which were not registered in Ghana, yet were conferring doctorate honours to people.

“You don’t have to address yourself as a doctor. If you are given an honorary degree, it is an honorary degree. Honorary is honorary , you don’t even have to put it on your curriculum vitae,” Mr Dattey said in an interview with the Daily Graphic.

He revealed that NAB was currently working with the Ministry of Education to enact a law “before the end of the year” to enable the prosecution of institutions behind the award fraudulent doctorate honours.

“I must say that with the active support of the Minister of Education, our law is being revised and one of the provisions in it is to protect the award of professional and academic qualifications. When we have that in our law, we can legally come out and challenge people who are using such titles and ask them to drop them,” the NAB Executive Secretary said.