The Core Question: Honorary vs. Earned

The distinction between an earned doctorate and an honorary one is fundamental to understanding the rules. A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) or other earned doctorates require years of rigorous research, coursework, and a defended dissertation. In contrast, an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Humane Letters, Laws, Science, etc.) is a meritorious award recognizing societal or professional contributions—not academic study.

This distinction is not merely semantic. It carries significant professional weight. In 2026, regulatory bodies in several countries have moved to clamp down on the misuse of the “Dr.” prefix, explicitly stating that honorary degree recipients should not use the title in official, academic, or professional settings.

Global Regulatory Landscape (2026)

In response to growing concerns over the abuse and commercialisation of honorary titles, higher education regulators in several countries have introduced or strengthened rules in 2025 and 2026. The trend across these jurisdictions is consistent: the “Dr.” title is being explicitly reserved for earned credentials. For many of these countries, this is a significant shift, since previous guidance on the practice was often informal or unenforced.

Leading this charge are several African nations, including Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, and Malawi, alongside a similar move by South Africa’s Council on Higher Education to formalize guidelines on honorary degrees. This section outlines the specific rules in the four key jurisdictions covered in this guide.

Coverage of this issue outside Africa has been much thinner, and readers should be cautious about assuming the same formal restrictions exist everywhere. If you hold or plan to use an honorary title outside the countries discussed here, it’s worth checking directly with your national higher education regulator (where one exists) rather than assuming a global standard applies.

What is consistent across the jurisdictions that have acted is the underlying motivation: protecting the public, employers, and students from being misled about a person’s actual qualifications.

Nigeria’s New Rules and the NUC Guidelines

In February 2026, Nigeria’s National Universities Commission (NUC) issued sweeping new guidelines regulating the award and use of honorary doctorate degrees, later reinforced by Federal Executive Council approval in May 2026. The policy was introduced to address what the Commission described as the indiscriminate conferment and misuse of honorary degrees within the Nigerian university system.

The policy gives federal, legally-backed authority to the “Keffi Declaration” of 2012, a set of principles originally developed by Nigerian university vice-chancellors that had lacked enforcement power. Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, has said the framework was introduced to address the abuse, commercialisation, and misuse of honorary awards, and that university autonomy does not extend to disregarding the new rules.

The guidelines also require universities to publish the names of honorary degree recipients and provide orientation on the rules to awardees, with revocation procedures available where the guidelines are breached.

Uganda’s NCHE Directive

Uganda’s National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) issued a directive in May 2025, reinforced again in June 2026, prohibiting recipients of honorary doctorates from using the title “Doctor.” NCHE Chairperson Prof. Joy C. Kwesiga stated that honorary degrees—known as honoris causa—are ceremonial awards and should not be treated as academic qualifications.

NCHE has said the guidance is meant to eliminate misrepresentation and preserve the value of earned academic qualifications, and has warned that honorary awards should not be used to gain advantage in public office, employment, or academic appointments. The Council operates under the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, which mandates it to regulate and validate academic and professional qualifications in Uganda.

Ghana’s GTEC Caution

Ghana’s Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) has taken one of the most visible enforcement approaches of any regulator covered here. Starting in mid-2025, GTEC began issuing individual public cautions to named public figures—including politicians, businesspeople, and public officials—directing them to stop using the “Dr.” or “Prof.” title where it could not be substantiated, and in some cases requesting formal documentary proof of the underlying degree.

GTEC operates under the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023), which gives it authority over Ghana’s tertiary institutions and academic credentialing. The Commission has said the practice of adopting unearned titles is “misleading to the academic community” and has warned that individuals who continue to use unearned or honorary titles deceptively could face legal and reputational consequences.

GTEC has directed that honorary degrees should only be conferred by accredited, recognised institutions, and that recipients should not adopt the resulting title as part of their name in professional or public use. The Commission has also urged the media, religious institutions, and public bodies to verify academic credentials before addressing individuals by academic titles.

Malawi’s NCHE Stance

Malawi’s National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) issued guidance in March 2025 stating that honorary doctorates confer no entitlement to use the titles “Dr.” or “Prof.” in personal or professional contexts. NCHE Chairperson Dr. Estone Yobe Sambo said honorary degrees are “purely symbolic” and do not equate to academic credentials, and that recipients should not call themselves “Doctor,” nor should the media or public address them as such.

NCHE also clarified that no higher education institution in Malawi is authorized to confer honorary professorships at all — a stricter position than most other jurisdictions, which at least permit the honorary doctorate itself while restricting the title. Honorary doctorates conferred on Malawians by foreign institutions remain subject to the same guidance when used within Malawi.

It’s worth noting that, at the time these guidelines were issued, at least one commentator pointed out that they did not specify enforcement mechanisms or penalties for individuals who continue using the title regardless. So while the guidance is clear and has been publicly and repeatedly restated by NCHE, readers shouldn’t assume there is a defined legal penalty attached to non-compliance in Malawi specifically, unlike Nigeria’s more explicit sanctions regime.

Why the Rules Exist: Protecting Academic Integrity

These regulations are not arbitrary; they are rooted in a fundamental need to protect the integrity of academic and professional credentials. When honorific titles are used loosely, the same title stops reliably telling anyone what kind of expertise the bearer actually has — which matters most in fields like medicine, law, and academia, where the public relies on the “Dr.” title to signal genuine training.

In several African contexts, honorary doctorates have been reported as increasingly used as symbols of wealth and political influence rather than scholarly achievement, sometimes dispensed by unaccredited institutions in exchange for financial contributions. This is precisely the pattern the new guidelines in Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, and Malawi are designed to confront.

The misuse of doctoral titles can have real consequences beyond reputation. In healthcare, patients may mistakenly assume an honorary degree holder has medical training. In academia, misused titles muddy the credentials students and colleagues are relying on. Regulators in the jurisdictions above have cited these concerns directly as motivation for their guidelines.

Ethical Usage: The “h.c.” Designation

While using the “Dr.” prefix is prohibited under all four regulators discussed above, there is a widely accepted and ethical way to acknowledge an honorary doctorate. The convention, echoed across Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, and Malawi’s guidance, is to append the honorary title after the recipient’s name using “h.c.” (honoris causa) or the fuller “(Hon. Causa),” clearly distinguishing it from an earned credential. For example: “Muhammad Abdullah, LLD h.c.”, not “Dr. Muhammad Abdullah.”

This approach allows you to note the achievement while remaining transparent about its nature. It signals that you understand the distinction and are committed to representing it honestly — which, as the regulatory activity above shows, is now an active expectation in a growing number of jurisdictions, not just a matter of etiquette.

Alongside the post-nominal format, it’s good practice to give contextual information about the honorary doctorate in bios, resumes, and online profiles — for example: “Recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of XYZ for contributions to the arts.” This describes the achievement clearly without implying it was earned through academic study.

Context Matters: When “Dr.” Might Be Permitted

The rules regarding the use of “Dr.” can be nuanced depending on where you are and what kind of degree is involved.

• Earned Doctorates: The most straightforward case is for individuals who hold earned doctoral degrees (Ph.D., M.D., Ed.D., etc.). They are entitled to use the “Dr.” title based on that qualification, regardless of any honorary degree they may also hold.
• Historical Figures: Some historical figures who received honorary doctorates are still commonly referred to by the title — Benjamin Franklin, for instance, received honorary degrees and is widely referred to as “Dr. Franklin” in historical writing. This reflects long-standing convention rather than current regulatory guidance, and shouldn’t be taken as a template for present-day use.
• Jurisdictions Without Formal Rules: Outside the countries with explicit regulatory guidance covered in this article, norms vary and are often unwritten. The safest approach anywhere is to default to “h.c.” or a written-out description rather than assuming “Dr.” is acceptable simply because no formal rule prohibits it locally.
• Ceremony Contexts: Some institutions extend the courtesy of addressing an honorary degree recipient as “Doctor” during the conferral ceremony itself or in limited institutional communications. This is typically understood as ceremonial courtesy specific to that event, not a general entitlement to use the title afterward.

Because the rules and their enforcement vary by country and profession, the safest general approach is transparency: use “h.c.” or a written description rather than “Dr.,” and check your specific jurisdiction’s higher education regulator if one exists.

FAQ: Rules for Using “Doctor” Explained