This archive report was first published on 14 July 2019.
On July 14, 2019, the Commission for University Education announced a welcome move to audit PhD degrees awarded by public universities in recent years.
The probe aims to review the PhDs awarded by local institutions following concerns that the institutions are not following the right assessment procedure.
The regulator will also focus on whether students followed the set rules, including the one that caps professors from supervising more than three PhD candidates at a time.
Furthermore, the publications or refereed journals where PhD graduands have published their works will be reviewed, as some journals have had their credibility questioned and some students have been accused of delegating research work to others for a fee.
The audit is a necessary step to restore confidence in the quality of graduates and prevent the country's economy from suffering the consequences of incapable graduates.
Employers have been questioning the quality of graduates being churned out by universities annually, and the fact that PhD graduands have also sparked similar queries is alarming.
It is essential that the regulator leaves no stone unturned in getting to the bottom of the problem and audits all the degrees awarded by institutions to ensure all loopholes are sealed.
Those found culpable should not be allowed to get away with it and should be punished to prevent a few rotten apples from destroying what took many years to build.
