The University of Liberia Faculty Association (ULFA) has frowned on the Ministry of Education for suspending recent decision taken by the National Commission of Higher Education.
Recently, the Director General of NCHE, Dr. Edward Lama Wonkeryor reminded higher education institutions in Liberia through a statement about the requirement for Presidents and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Dr. Wonkeryor mandated the President and VPAA of all higher learning institutions to possess an earned Academic Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree as part of one of the criteria set in the education policy.
Following such pronouncement, the Minister of Education, Professor Dao Ansu Sonii with immediate effect nullified the statement and suspended the part of the provision upon which Dr. Wonkeryor had acted.
But in response to the government’s decision through Minister Sonii, the University of Liberia Faculty Association termed the MOE’s action as an to derail progress made in the pursuit of higher quality education in Liberia.
ULFA also deemed it as being inimical to knowledge transfer at institutions of higher learning to compete with their peers in the sub-region.
ULFA said it wonders why the Ministry of Education authorities are yet to take a position on the proliferation of “fake” credentials in academia but instead would seek to throw a dagger at the heart of the beginning of a serious policy on higher education.
In a press release issued Tuesday signed by its Secretary General Eric Patten, the UL Faculty Association stressed that it is also troubled that the action of the MoE could further damage the image of all qualified persons who have duly earned their degrees.
At the same time, ULFA called on the Ministry of Education to retract its statement and lend support to the National Commission on Higher Education processes.
The ULFA leadership indicated that it wholeheartedly supports the decision of the NCHE and sees this as a step in the right direction in improving academic standards of the country.
“The ULFA leadership recalls that about (18) months ago, all faculty members (Full & Part-Time) were requested to submit their credentials to the office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA) for validation of what is referred to as “Credentials Audit”.”
“Furthermore, the ULFA leadership on December of 2021 and January of 2022 reminded the VPAA office on the need to make public the official results of the audit exercises so as to rid the UL of “Fake Degrees”,” the statement added.
However, the University of Liberia Faculty Association is urging all stakeholder, the 54th Legislature, partners in education as well as faculty members to muster the courage in adverting what it called a drastic and catastrophic nightmare that looms over the educational sector.
It noted that the leadership seeks to provide clarity and show proof of academic achievements so as to bring to a close these allegations that are detrimental to the survival of higher education in the modern dispensation.
