Uladzimir Dunaeu: When universities are distributing honorary titles it doesn’t lead to better educa

Although awarding high-ranked officials with honorary university professor titles is a widely-spread practice, in case of Belarus it says about a simple desire to earn money.

On August 11 in the Belarusian State University (BSU) rector’s office Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who paid official visit to Belarus, was awarded the diploma of an honorary professor of the chief university of the country.

The official got the honorary title for the alleged “huge personal input” in strengthening and development of multilateral friendly relations between Pakistan and Belarus.

Pakistani Prime Minister enlarged the list of famous high-ranked officials, who got the same title in the BSU. Such awards is a widely spread practice, notes Uladzimir Dunaeu, professor of philosophy, a former Vice Rector of the EHU, the member of the public Bologna committee.

- Such awards don’t always mark achievements in education, - he told in the interview with the EuroBelarus Information Service. – It is hard to say how honorary is the award of professor’s title for political and state actors, but such gestures re very common. For example, Aliaksandr Lukashenka is an honorary professor of Shevchenko Kyiv State University. Thus, awarding of Pakistani Prime Minister is a political gesture.

- Is such practice typical for post-Soviet countries?

- This practice is widely spread all over the world.

It is a different question whether it is a university’s initiative; it is rather a government’s one.

- What use does distribution of honorary professors’ titles bring to universities or to the country?

- Sometimes it is an element of marketing. Some universities boast that they have state actors among honorary professors. It has to do with the regular relations with other countries: now many universities are concerned with getting as many foreign students as possible since they don’t have enough of them in the country.

- Among the honorary BSU professors are representatives of Asian countries. Is there any explanation to that?

- I didn’t see the whole list of honorary BSU professors. But our universities mainly specialize in Asian and African political actors.

- What is more “honorable”: for the university to have honorary professors from the number of famous people or for the famous people to have an honorary university title?

- Of course, the majority of state actors might not put much attention to such kind of honorary titles apart from the cases when it is related to the reputation of a concrete university.

Nevertheless, some political actors are proud that they have, for example, 40 diplomas of honorary doctors – as Nelson Mandela, who had a list of dozens of diplomas.

But mainly, it doesn’t matter. apart from proving that the university has relations with the political elites which has certain importance.

Sometimes, of course, awarding some bloody dictator compromises a university much more than the dictator himself.

- Does the presence of a title oblige to something those who are awarded?

- No, it doesn’t. It is supposed that if a university has a need in foreign students then such political/state actor will be contributing to his country’s students’ admission to the universities of that country.

For example, we have an organizational admission that doesn’t bring anything apart from money since it doesn’t enhance the level of education. It is a form of internationalization that are of such cynical character.