The Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Prof. Ahmed Abdulai Jinapor, has dismissed claims that the Commission’s recent enforcement actions on the use of honorary academic titles are politically driven.
This comes in the wake of GTEC’s recent directives cautioning individuals against appending honorary titles such as “Doctor” and “Professor” to their names without formal academic justification. The Commission says the move is part of broader efforts to restore credibility and order within Ghana’s tertiary education space.
Speaking on Eyewitness News with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Friday, July 4, Prof. Jinapor stressed that the regulation exercise is aimed at sanitising the academic environment and is not directed at specific individuals or political affiliations.
“Our position is to sanitise and regulate the tertiary educational space. Honorary doctorate, though it points to your contributions to society, it’s not an academic title. It’s even becoming more worrying when it comes to professorship. There are a lot of people who claim to be professors when they are not, and we’re not going to renege on our efforts. It’s not about politics,” he clarified.
He noted that the problem is widespread and not isolated to the political arena.
“If you look at the individuals who have come into the public domain, it cuts across. The names you have heard are just a microcosm of the bigger people who happen to be in this whole situation,” he said.
Prof. Jinapor further indicated that while most individuals comply with regulations once alerted, a few continue to resist oversight.
“It’s just a few recalcitrant ones who are adamant and have been fighting the system,” he said.
GTEC recently issued a formal caution to Awutu Senya East MP, Phillis Naa Koryoo Okunor, instructing her to immediately cease using the academic title “Doctor.” The Commission also directed Mr. Sofo Rashid Tanko, Acting CEO of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), widely known as “Tanko-Computer,” to stop using the same title, citing the lack of academic credentials to support its use.
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