MONROVIA – What has been termed as a radical approach to instill academic standard and sanity in the various universities and colleges in the country, the National Commission of Higher Education (NCHE), has announced a new regulation that restricts only holders of PhDs to head higher institutions in the country with immediate effect.
“This is to inform all heads of higher education institutions in Liberia that one of the overarching policy expectations of the NCHE is that all Presidents and Vice Presidents for Academic Affairs (VPAA’s) of Universities and Colleges operating in Liberia must possess a doctorate degree from an accredited university and /or colleges.
“An honorary degree holder is disallowed to serve as President or Vice President for Academic Affairs at any higher education institutions within the Republic of Liberia”, a press statement from NCHE signed and approved by G. Melvin Taydor, Acting Public Relations Officer and Prof. Edward Lama Wonkeryor, Director General stated.
The press statement called on the institutions concerned to strictly adhere to the defined policy as the NCHE intends to ensure that the policy is implemented fully by them with immediate effect.
This latest policy statement is being viewed as being in the positive direction as it will go a long way to curb the wave of administrators of higher institutions, especially faith based institutions are taking up leadership roles at these academic centers without the requisite academic qualifications yet they are allowed to sign credentials of graduates for degrees the administrators do not possess.
This policy, according to sources who told The Analyst, was among several other recommendations forwarded to NCHE from stakeholders at the highest level of the education sector to promote standard and quality education in universities and colleges across the country. The findings which prompted the recommendations, among other things, noted that most of those heading higher institutions in the country hold honorary doctorate degrees while others obtained their higher degrees, normally, doctorate degrees from unverified online institutions.
The NCHE for some time now has been involved in waging war against the decay in the education sector beginning with cracking down on unlicensed and bogus institutions around those who are awarding fake degrees and other forms of certifications to unsuspecting students.
There are a total of 3 full-fledged public universities in the country, 14 community colleges and 25 private and faith based colleges and universities.
The NCHE is the statutory arm of the Liberian Government that regulates and supervises higher education institutions, and is charged with the responsibilities to license, accredit, monitor and evaluate all post-secondary institutions within the Republic of Liberia.
Comments are closed.