Alabi challenges GTEC over ‘fake’ SMC PhD classification

Prof. Joshua Alabi says the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission’s decision to brand doctorate degrees from the Swiss Management Centre as fake disregards the regulatory environment in which many Ghanaians pursued those programmes.

After receiving an honorary degree from the University of Professional Studies, Accra, in recognition of his leadership as Vice Chancellor, Prof. Alabi said GTEC’s public classification risks unfairly damaging the reputation of professionals who relied on assurances issued years ago by the then National Accreditation Board.

According to him, “many of these professionals undertook their studies based on the assurances and information available from our national regulator.”

He explained that when UPSA lecturers and other Ghanaian professionals enrolled in SMC’s doctoral programmes, the institution had varying levels of recognition and registration in Ghana, supported by documents provided by state authorities.

He argued it was unreasonable to condemn the certificates of individuals who followed official guidance, saying it is “unjust and harmful to brand the qualifications of hardworking Ghanaians as ‘fake’ when they acted on the guidance of state institutions.”

Prof. Alabi pointed out that SMC graduates today serve in key national roles across academia and public institutions, including former Vice Chancellors, advisors to governors, Deans, Heads of Departments and lecturers.

He maintained that their contribution to national development should not be erased by a blanket declaration that fails to recognise historical regulatory decisions.

He also disclosed that UPSA undertook extensive due diligence before allowing its lecturers to enrol in SMC programmes.

The process, he said, included verification with the National Accreditation Board, additional checks through the Swiss Embassy in Ghana and direct confirmation in Switzerland.

According to him, “these steps were taken carefully to ensure the institution met the required standards before any lecturer enrolled.”

Prof. Alabi called on GTEC to communicate regulatory decisions with precision and sensitivity, stressing that pronouncements of this nature carry serious implications for professional credibility and public confidence in Ghana’s regulatory system.

His comments follow a derecognition spree by GTEC, the tertiary education regulatory body that deemed several doctoral degrees invalid.

Last month, Legal practitioner Martin Kpebu filed a petition with the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) on behalf of the Swiss Management Centre (SMC) University Alumni Association (Ghana Chapter), calling on the Commission’s Governing Board to intervene in what he terms the “illegal derecognition” of degrees awarded by SMC University, Switzerland.

According to the petition, SMC University received official accreditation from the National Accreditation Board (NAB) between 2012 and 2018 as a foreign tertiary institution authorized to operate in Ghana.

During that period, the university offered several professional and doctoral programmes, including the Doctor of Finance (DFin), Doctor of Management (DoM), and Doctor of Business Administration (DBA).

GTEC has also asked key figures, including the MP for Sekondi, Dr. Grace Ayensu-Danquah; Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Ken Ashigbey, and Chief Executive of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), Rashid Tanko-Computer, to refrain from using academic recognitions of ‘Dr.’ and ‘Professor’.