The NUC’s guidelines on honorary doctorate degrees are in order, writes FELIX OLADEJI ​​ The decision by the National Universities Commission (NUC) to sanction universities over the “indiscriminate conferment and misuse” of honorary doctorate degrees marks a necessary, if long overdue, intervention in Nigeria’s higher education landscape. The commission’s recent statement underscores an uncomfortable truth: the integrity of academic recognition has been compromised by practices that blur the line between genuine scholarly honour and transactional title-giving. Honorary doctorate degrees have a storied place in global academic tradition. They are intended to recognise individuals whose contributions to society in the arts, sciences, public service, or civic life embody the values a unive...