The Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, has revealed that most foreign institutions granting doctorate degrees to Ghanaians are not accredited, raising serious questions about the validity of such qualifications.
GTEC has recently exposed numerous individuals holding ‘fake’ academic titles, as well as some Ghanaian universities operating without proper accreditation.
Speaking on TV3 on Sunday, December 14, 2025, Prof. Ahmed Jinapor said GTEC’s investigations show that the operations of many of these foreign institutions are questionable.
“Some certificates that are claimed to have been gotten from some institutions are invalid because the basis upon which those certificates were given are questionable. In our case, we have come to realize that a number of these institutions that happen not to be in Ghana, most of these institutions happen to be foreign institutions, they don’t have accreditation.
“The operation is questionable and in each of these, we do serious checks and even engage the individuals,” he stated.
Prof. Ahmed Jinapor noted that the publicly named cases represent only a small fraction of the people the Commission has investigated regarding questionable doctorate degrees.
He emphasized that most individuals, upon understanding the seriousness of their offense, agree to stop using the unaccredited or honorary doctorate titles.
The GTEC boss dismissed claims that the Commission’s actions are motivated by personal vendetta.
“And to be honest with you, most of the people that we engage, when they understand and appreciate the dynamics of where they find themselves, they just say, ‘we are not interested. I was given an honorary doctorate…with the intention that I could use it but if the regulator say that I cannot use it and it dilutes the environment, I am ready to let it go’,” he added.
“I can say for a fact that 99% of all the individuals who have come in the public domain, we have had some form of engagement with them. Private conversations, written letters and in most instances those who have agreed based on our conversation to shelve those degrees are more than who happen not to.
“It is only a few who I am hesitant not to use the word recalcitrant who more or less refuse to our advice. It is not as if it is an issue of personal vendetta. Most of these people, we don’t even know them,” he remarked.
