The Maldives Qualifications Authority (MQA) has decided that doctoral degrees awarded within the Maldives will only be formally recognised if they involve a minimum of three years of full-time study, aligning local standards with existing international recognition criteria.
The decision was announced yesterday following guidance from the MQA’s Advisory Board. While there is currently no dedicated regulation governing the duration or delivery structure of PhD programmes offered by higher education institutions in the Maldives, the authority confirmed that clear benchmarks already exist for recognising doctoral degrees obtained from overseas institutions.
To address this regulatory gap, the MQA has resolved to apply the same standards used for foreign doctoral qualifications to PhD programmes conducted locally, as well as those jointly offered by Maldivian and international universities.
Under the applied standard, a full-time PhD programme must have a minimum duration of three years to qualify for recognition. For part-time doctoral programmes, the minimum duration is set at twice that of a full-time programme.
The move is expected to strengthen academic integrity, ensure consistency in doctoral qualifications, and safeguard the credibility of PhD degrees recognised in the Maldives, particularly as the country expands its higher education sector and cross-border academic collaborations.
