THE STATEMENT BY NCHE ON CONFEREMENT AND USE OF HONORARY DEGREES AND HONORARY PROFESSORSHIP
Link for Education Governance (LEG), which was duly registered in 2007 as a nonprofit organization, is involved in conducting policy analysis and research as well as capacity building, monitoring and advocacy to promote good governance and efficient service delivery in the education sector.
LEG would like to welcome the statement dated 27th March 2027, issued by the National Council For Higher Education (NCHE) in which it gives guidelines on the conferment and use of honorary doctorate degrees and honorary professorships in Malawi.
In the statement NCHE rightly clarifies that such honorary doctorates and professorships cannot be designated as qualifications but are mere honours, and that recipients of such degrees should not address themselves as “Doctor” of “Professor”. The statement goes ahead to urge members of the academic and the public including the media not to address a recipient of honorary doctorate degree orally or in writing as “Doctor”, and has guided that honorary professorship shall not be used in Malawi.
LEG observes that the statement by NCHE helps to bring sanity and promotes ethical and legitimate practices in higher education, especially while noting that the trend of claiming to be “Doctor” or “Professor” based on honorary conferment has increased in recent years across various sectors including in music, drama, traditional medicine, religion, politics and others.
The illegitimate use of “Doctor” or “Professor” has potential of encouraging laziness amongst students and diminishing the value of genuine doctoral and professorial titles. Such a malpractice can also promote corruption in higher education, where people can use the backdoor to be awarded such honours if such can be recognized by prospective employers and the public as legitimate qualifications.
While appreciating the position by NCHE, LEG is concerned that the guidelines do not contain information on how NCHE intends to enforce such guidelines nor do they provide punitive measures against errant individuals or institutions. Moreover, the guidelines do not contain information on how the public may report such malpractices to NCHE or other law enforcers to ensure appropriate action. The guidelines also need to be gazetted to assume the force of law and not to be ignored. The gaps, if not addressed, may perpetuate the unethical practice of using such honorary titles.
LEG, therefore, calls upon NCHE to address these gaps as a matter of urgency.
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