GTEC warns Deputy Health Minister to stop using ‘Professor’ title

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), as part of its nationwide campaign to prevent the misuse of academic titles, has ruled that Deputy Health Minister, Dr. Grace Ayensu-Danquah, is not recognized as a “Professor” in any capacity.

In a letter dated August 12, 2025, addressed to the Chief of Staff at the Office of the President and copied to Dr. Ayensu-Danquah, the Health Minister, the Clerk of Parliament, and the GTEC Board Chairman, the Commission directed her employer to ensure she stops presenting herself with the title.

GTEC further cautioned that continued use of the title could compel the Commission to initiate legal proceedings on grounds of public deception.

This directive follows earlier engagements. On August 4, 2025, GTEC wrote to Dr. Ayensu-Danquah requesting documentary proof of her professorial status. That letter, also copied to the Chief of Staff and the Clerk of Parliament, referenced prior interactions between the Commission’s Board Chairman and the Deputy Minister. She was given until August 11, 2025, to provide verifiable evidence.

In response, on August 8, 2025, her legal team, led by David K. Ametefe, informed GTEC that she had been appointed Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Utah, USA. They also questioned the Commission’s authority to demand such documentation, stressing that the appointment was made outside Ghana’s jurisdiction.

However, GTEC noted that instead of submitting proof of a professorial appointment, her lawyers provided a letter from the University of Utah. The letter, dated August 7, 2025, and signed by Prof. W. Bradford Rockwell, Vice Chair for Academic Affairs in the Department of Surgery, fell short of confirming her claim to the title of “Professor.

That letter, a copy of which has also been sighted by Graphic Online, indicated that Dr Ayensu-Danquah was appointed as an Adjunct Assistant Professor.

The Commission stressed that the omission of the word 'adjunct' was misleading, clarifying in its August 12 letter that:

Contrary to the assertion in the letter from her solicitors, Dr Ayensu-Danquah was not appointed as an Assistant Professor but as an Adjunct Assistant Professor, as clearly stated in the letter from the University of Utah. The omission of the word ‘Adjunct’ by her legal representatives is both misleading and troubling.

According to the letter from Dr Rockwell, the position of Adjunct Assistant Professor is not a tenure-track role. He further explains that academic position titles used by the University of Utah may not directly correspond to those within Ghana's academic framework.

For clarity, within the context of Ghanaian higher education, an adjunct assistant professor is roughly equivalent to a part-time lecturer and not even comparable to the rank of senior lecturer, let alone professor.

On this basis, GTEC concluded that Dr Ayensu-Danquah does not hold the title of professor in any form. The August 12 letter, signed by Professor Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, Director-General of GTEC, emphasised:

We therefore respectfully call on you, her employer, to ensure that she ceases presenting herself as such. Should Dr Ayensu-Danquah continue to use the title ‘Professor’, the Commission may be compelled to pursue legal action on grounds of public deception.

Attached to the exchanges were three key documents:

1. GTEC’s initial request (letter dated August 4, 2025), outlining the formal process for verifying professorial titles and warning against misrepresentation.