By Kodjo Adams, Elisha Oduro-Pinkrah
Accra, July 25, GNA ‑ The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) has issued a strong warning against the growing misuse of honorary academic titles in the country, describing it as misleading and unlawful under the Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020 (Act 1023).
Professor Ahmed Abdulai Jinapor, the Director-General of the Commission, said individuals who publicly use titles such as “Dr.” or “Professor” based solely on honorary awards were in violation of Ghana’s education regulatory laws and risk facing prosecution.
“Only accredited and chartered institutions have the right to confer honorary degrees, and even then, recipients are not permitted to adopt those titles as if they were academic qualifications,” he said at a press briefing in Accra.
Citing Section Act 1023, Prof Jinapor explained that GTEC had the legal mandate to regulate the use of higher education nomenclature and titles, including “Dr.,” “professor,” and “chartered.”
He noted that the misuse of such titles could attract fines of up to 250 penalty units, imprisonment for up to a year, or both.
In recent months, GTEC has begun a public awareness campaign to name and shame individuals using honorary titles fraudulently.
The Professor said individuals with such titles were contacted and asked to provide evidence of academic qualifications and that failure to do so may lead to legal action.
He noted that several individuals, particularly politicians, religious leaders, herbalists, and entrepreneurs, continue to use the title “Dr.” on the basis of honorary doctorate awards in defiance of established guidelines.
Prof Jinapor said the misuse of such titles risked misleading the public, especially when honorary recipients were mistaken for medical doctors, academic scholars, or researchers.
He described the trend as “a threat to academic credibility” and emphasised that GTEC did not recognise titles such as “honorary professor” or “honorary doctor” in official contexts.
“GTEC wants to emphasise that individuals cannot use the title “Hon. Dr.,” “Hon. Prof.,” or “Prof. Hon.”, he said.
Professor Jinapor said honourary titles given were done by virtue of their contribution to society and nothing else.
He raised concern about institutions lacking the legal mandate to confer degrees but still awarding honorary titles, stressing that only accredited and chartered institutions may confer honorary degrees.
“Some of these institutions don’t even have the right to issue certificates,” he said.
GTEC stressed that honorary titles should be treated as symbolic and not used in professional or academic contexts.
The commission intends to escalate its enforcement measures in stages, starting with public education, followed by engagement, then legal action against recalcitrant offenders.
“We are not just doing this for optics. If naming and shaming doesn’t work, we will prosecute to serve as a deterrent.” Prof Jinapor said.
He also urged the media to thoroughly investigate any individual using titles before their names were published.
GNA
Christian Akorlie