‘Unaccredited institutions cannot confer honorary degrees’
The National Accreditation Board (NAB) has expressed concern about the activities of some unaccredited institutions that confer honorary degrees and emeritus professorships on some unsuspecting personalities.
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It said the conferment of honorary degrees was the prerogative of degree-awarding institutions so mandated, "therefore, accredited private tertiary institutions operating under the mentorship of chartered degree-awarding universities are not qualified by themselves to confer honorary degrees," a statement signed by the Executive Secretary of NAB, Mr Kwao Date, stressed.
"The NAB has noticed with concern the spate of conferment of honorary degree and emeritus professorships on some personalities by some unaccredited institutions, unqualified to award degrees on their own and other institutions with doubtful credentials," the statement noted.
Caution
It said the NAB wished to caution the general public and advised that distinguished personalities invited for such awards should verify the accreditation status and degree - awarding powers of the institutions that sought to confer honorary degrees on them to avoid any embarrassment.
Accredited institutions
"For the avoidance of doubts, as per our current records, only 14 institutions established in Ghana are eligible to confer honorary degrees," the statement said.
It named the institutions as the University of Ghana, Legon; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST); University of Cape Coast; University of Education, Winneba; University for Development Studies; University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa ;and the University of Professional Studies, Accra.
The rest are the University of Health and Allied Sciences; the University of Energy and Natural Resources; the Ghana Institute of Journalism; the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration; the Valley View University; the Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Research Institute and the Trinity Theological College.
"The National Accreditation Board hereby warns institutions engaged in this illegality to desist or be prepared to face sanctions prescribed by the law," the statement concluded.
