NUC bars honorary degree holders from using ‘Dr’ title

Precious Omolu 17:15 - 30 March 2026

NUC bans ‘Dr’ title for honorary degree recipients

National Universities Commission bars honorary degree recipients from using “Dr” title, introduces stricter guidelines to protect academic integrity in Nigerian universities.

The National Universities Commission (NUC) has rolled out new rules concerning honorary degrees at Nigerian universities. One key change is that recipients of these degrees are no longer allowed to use the "Dr." title.

The commission explained that this update is intended to put a stop to the widespread and often unwarranted granting of honorary awards, thereby protecting the value of genuine academic distinctions.

According to the updated regulations, only universities that have successfully graduated their first group of PhD students will be permitted to grant honorary degrees.

The NUC strongly emphasized that those receiving honorary degrees must not place "Dr." before their names. Instead, they should use proper designations after their names, like Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) – D.Sc (H.C). The commission also clarified that the "Dr." title is exclusively reserved for people who have earned actual academic doctorates or are qualified medical professionals.

These new guidelines also state that universities cannot accept any payment or expect financial contributions from honorary degree recipients. Honorary degrees must be awarded based purely on merit and cannot involve any fees.

To keep things in check, universities are now limited to awarding a maximum of three honorary degrees during each convocation ceremony.

Furthermore, the commission has ruled out self-nominated individuals as well as current elected or appointed public officials from being considered for these awards.

To promote openness, universities have been directed to list the names of those receiving honorary degrees on their official sites. They also need to create a policy that allows them to take back these awards if someone is found guilty of cheating or acting unethically.

The NUC made it clear that honorary degrees don't give recipients special professional rights. This means they can't use these degrees to practice in fields that require specific qualifications, oversee academic research, or hold management roles in universities.

The commission stressed its position again, warning that following these rules is non-negotiable. Universities that don't stick to the guidelines could face legal consequences.

The NUC also mentioned that these steps are part of their ongoing work to protect the trustworthiness and worldwide standing of Nigeria's university system.

A month ago, the NUC released a full list of the approved guidelines:

Institutional eligibility: Only approved universities (either public or private) are eligible to award honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria.
Maturity requirement: Only universities that have graduated the first set of PhD students are eligible to award honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria.
Purpose of the award: The purpose of the award shall be to recognize exceptional and sustained contribution, reflect institutional values, and ensure diversity.
Criteria for the award: The criteria for the award shall be clear and transparent with balanced representation across gender, race, nationality, and discipline to avoid conflicts of interest. All procedures for selecting and awarding honorary doctorate degrees shall be clearly stated on the official website of the awarding institution and made accessible.
Recipient eligibility: Self-nominated candidates and elected or appointed serving public officials are excluded.
Confidentiality: All aspects of the honorary doctorate degrees shall be treated with the highest level of confidentiality, and nominees shall only be contacted after their nominations have been approved by the Senate and Governing Council.
Award nomination: All nominations shall be processed by the statutory committee.
Approval: All nominations require University Senate and Governing Council approval.
Number of awards: The number of awards at each convocation shall not exceed three (3).
Nomenclature and title: All honorary doctorate degrees shall contain the nomenclature or title Honoris Causa. For example: Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa), D.Sc. (h.c.)
Conferment: Shall be in-person at the ceremony. In exceptional cases, the conferment may be done virtually or in absentia; it may be awarded posthumously.
No fee: Honorary doctorate degrees shall be conferred without any fee or expectation of payment from the recipient.
Usage: The recipients are at liberty to use the approved nomenclature or title of the honorary doctorate, such as Doctor of Law (Honoris Causa) or LL.D. (h.c.); or letters (Honoris Causa) or D.Sc. (h.c.) after their names. However, they are not permitted to use “Dr.”, which is reserved for holders of earned degrees and medical professionals. Additionally, they are not permitted to use the honorary doctorate degree to practice as scholars or professionals, oversee administrative units, or supervise research work.
Orientation: All awarding universities shall provide both written and verbal orientation to recipients on how to use the award.
Publication of records: All universities shall regularly publish the names of honorary doctorate degree recipients on their official website and make it accessible to the public, in order to uphold transparency.
Revocation policy: All awarding universities shall provide a formal mechanism to rescind awards if a recipient is convicted of fraud or has engaged in any unethical conduct that is inconsistent with the values of the awarding institution.