Romurlus Silva, Pannipitiya, ColomboA Doctorate, prefixing “Dr.” to ones name, is a sign of scholarship, earned after about three years of diligent research and conferred by a University. However, there is now a proliferation of Doctorates, bought from degree mills, dubious organisations offering ‘research’ (including martial arts!) and Honorary Doctorates conferred by Universities, which recipients pass it off as a genuine one. The dubious category could be easily spotted: the users of the title, seldom mention the University conferring it. For example, it is simply “PhD”, or, “PhD Sri Lanka” or, “PhD USA” (as if Sri Lanka or USA are Universities!). The Public need to be careful in recognizing such charlatans and affording them the respect which a genuine PhD holder deserves.
I was recently misled and discovered the ruse, after asking which University and the title of the research, when a non existent University was mentioned! Genuine PhD holders would always state the University within parenthesis, after the PhD, and be able to describe their research.
The trick is the use of PhD and the University name after the PhD by Honorary Doctorate holders, without the use of the words “Honoris Causa” or at least “h.c” after the PhD and the University name. There is one business magnate, sans the G.C.E. Ord. Level, who uses the honorary PhD conferred on him, without indicating the honorary status, thus representing dishonorably, that he is a true scholar, who earned the PhD through study. I have heard of a writer “conferred” of a “Doctorate” by a martial arts institution, who regularly calls up the press and upbraids them when he is not addressed as “Dr.”
In a country gone crazy over awards, with awards for almost everything and everybody, it is hoped that those who use the PhD title, which is a respected indicator of scholarship and contribution to knowledge, do so in a way to preserve that respect, by indicating the true nature of the doctorate, along with the University which granted it.
Post a Comment