The Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Professor Ahmed Jinapor, has revealed a significant decline in the pursuit of honorary doctorate titles, attributing the latest trend to scrutiny and efforts to curb the misuse of honorary titles.
According to him, recent data gathered by the Commission indicates that fewer individuals are seeking honorary doctorates, a shift from previous years when such titles were widely pursued and awarded by various institutions.
Speaking before Parliament’s Assurances Committee on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, he explained that stricter enforcement measures are helping to curb the misuse of such titles by individuals who have not earned them through academic work.
“You will attest to the fact that based on this exercise that we undertook, the data shows that people are no longer going in for honorary doctorates,” he said.
Professor Jinapor disclosed that GTEC is currently conducting further research to identify institutions that continue to confer honorary doctorate degrees.
He noted that so far, only one public institution, the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), has awarded an honorary doctorate this year, citing businessman Ibrahim Mahama as the recipient.
“In fact, this year we are doing scientific research to determine the institutions that are giving honorary doctorate. Only one public institution has given honorary doctorate which is UMaT to Ibrahim Mahama,” he added.
He stated that hitherto the latest decline, institutions were previously giving out too many honorary titles.
“In the past, almost every institution was giving honorary doctorates, but now people are not interested because they cannot use them,” he explained.
The GTEC Director-General suggested that tighter regulations and public awareness about the limitations of honorary degrees, particularly their lack of academic and professional standing have contributed to the reduced interest.
Professor Jinapor was responding to concerns over the growing abuse of honorary doctorate titles by individuals who have not undertaken the required academic research or publications.
