Higher Doctorate Degree... Thoughts?

So, I was looking at graduate programs at the University of Nairobi and came across the "Higher Doctorate Degree."

Higher Doctorate Degrees

Those eligible for the award of a Higher Doctorate of the University of Nairobi must among other requirements be holders of the Doctor of Philosophy or Doctor of Medicine degree of the University of Nairobi or the Doctor of Philosophy degree from any other recognized university of at least five years standing.

The Common Regulations for Higher Doctorates of the University of Nairobi other than Honorary Degrees are set out in the University Calendar. The Higher Doctorate, the regulations stipulate, shall only be awarded for the original published work such as would give a candidate authoritative international standing in his/her particular field of research.

The application must be based wholly or substantially on original work of distinction carried out by the candidate. The term ‘‘published’’ shall mean printed in a referred journal, book or monograph which shall have been made available to the public.

The submitted works by the candidate is assessed by an Evaluation Panel.

Fees
Higher Doctorate Degrees are done by publication and thesis, are not supervised and the applicant does NOT receive any tuition. Consequently it does NOT attract academic fees.

The cost is 496k (KES) or approximately 4k (USD).

https://uonbi.ac.ke/fees-higher-doctorate-degrees

Is anyone family with this type of degree?

 

It reminds me of the habilitation in the German system, the DSc in Russia or the MD in the Commonwealth (which sits above the MBBS which is the usual degree to practice in India or the UK.) You achieve it through a substantial amount of scholarship beyond the PhD. If the PhD is the apprenticeship in basic research training and permission to enter the guild, then these other degrees are proof of mastery in your field.

 

Yes, at one time and perhaps currently, you earned a PhD with of course a dissertation. Then to be a credentialed professor you wrote a whole other thesis for the Habilitation. Most people find once enough.

At one point, a woman could earn a PhD but could be denied the habilitation thesis effectively ending her career. If I recall correctly, Edith Stein was such a case.

 

Herr Doktor Doktor

 

Give me the news....

 

One, two, or several such degrees might well appeal to the "collectors" among us.
"Gotta catch 'em all," (Pokemon).

 

I am not so sure about the African Higher Doctorate but the UK higher doctorate is mainly designed for established academics and normally are only available to faculty or graduates of the same university that grants them and not the general public. A while ago, I tried to apply for one as I graduated from a UK university and it was not easy to find faculty that was available and qualified to read my work. You also need at least 10+ solid publications in good journals ranked at least Q1 or Q2 in Scopus to be considered for one. The African degree might have different requirements but in the UK, this type of degrees is more for academics at the middle of their career and not at the beginning.

This type of degrees have been discussed here many times but yet we don't have even one person that has graduated from this type of programs yet. I checked at my own university and normally they grant very few of these degrees per year (1 or 2) so you will not find tons of people holding them.

 

Maybe similar to the DSc in Australia:
https://my.uq.edu.au/programs-courses/program.html?acad_prog=7510

 

"The Doctor of Science is the highest academic award in science. It is designed to give formal public recognition to eminent scholars who have made substantial, original and distinguished contributions to scientific knowledge in an identified field of science."

The University of Queensland is a top ranked school. I would expect that they would require top publications and an established academic career. It is not the type of program where you can just write a thesis and graduate, it is really about a person getting recognition to be a world class leader in a field.