PUTRAJAYA: In the wake of motivational speaker Azizan Osman’s allegedly fraudulent appropriation of ‘doctor of philosophy’ (PhD) credentials, the Higher Education Ministry is mooting guidelines to prevent the misuse of academic titles such as ‘Dr’.
"We are in the midst of discussions with several universities on the matter, and will come up with guidelines in two months’ time,” said its minister, Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh.
"First, we have to clearly define (what constitutes as) misuse of the PhD title, and whether the action can be criminalised,” he said after presenting letters of appointment to members of the National Professor Council (NPC) here today.
The issue came to the fore following controversy over Azizan’s putative PhD credentials when Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur (IUKL) – one of which had supposedly bestowed upon him an honorary doctorate – denied ever doing so.