EDITORIAL: Regulator’s audit of PhD degrees welcome

While the move by the Commission for University Education to audit PhD degrees awarded by public universities in recent years is a welcome one, it just goes to show the depth some of our institutions of higher learning have sunk.

It is quite worrying when degrees awarded by the learning institutions are queried with the spotlight being turned on their veracity and quality.

The probe by the regulator will review the PhDs awarded by local institutions following concerns that the institutions are not following the right assessment procedure.

It will also focus on whether the students followed the set rules, including the one that caps professors from supervising more than three PhD candidates at a time.

The publications or refereed journals where the PhD graduands have published their works will also be reviewed since some of the journals have had their credibility questioned while some students have been accused of delegating the research work to others for a fee.

The audit is a long overdue one if we are to return our academic halls to the past heights of excellence.

Many employers have been questioning the quality of graduates being churned out by the universities annually because after they are absorbed by the labour market many are found to be wanting.

The fact that PhD graduands have also sparked similar queries is quite alarming given that some of these doctoral degree holders will be absorbed by the same institutions to teach others. If their qualifications are not up to par with the required standards and regulations then we shall end up with dense graduates who cannot perform in the job market.

This will have serious ramifications for the country’s economy when its graduates are found to be incapable of performing their day to day tasks. We urge the regulator to leave no stone unturned in getting to the bottom of the problem. It should audit all the degrees awarded by the institutiuons to ensure all the loopholes are sealed.

Those found culpable should not be allowed to get away with it and should be punished.

We cannot allow a few rotten apples to destroy what took many years to build. We must restore confidence in the degrees that are being awarded by our universities.