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In Benin, recognized higher education is available through public universities whose programs have de facto recognition, private higher education institutions co-signed by the Benin Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, or private higher education institutions approved by the regional accrediting body, Conseil Africain et Malgache pour l'Enseignement Superieur / CAMES (African and Malagasy Council for Higher Education). CAMES has been accrediting programs in Benin since 1988.
Benin does not accredit private higher education institutions as a whole; individual programs are submitted to the appropriate educational authorities for review, and only individual programs at private institutions are considered recognized, not the institution as a whole. In the US, academic accreditation is done at an institutional level, but that is not the case in Benin for private institutions. It is very common for a private higher education institution to offer a combination of recognized and unrecognized programs.
Whether approved by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research or CAMES, private institutions must have their individual degree programs accredited/recognized to be considered equivalent to degree programs offered by public universities. As a result, only those individual degree programs that are approved by the Ministry of Higher Education or CAMES are those we consider comparable to regionally accredited studies in the U.S. It is legal for private institutions to offer unrecognized programs, and they commonly cite the legislation on their diplomas, but that does not make the programs recognized in Benin.
In Benin, the national education system is standardized. Based on education reforms adopted in 2007/2008, Benin has been revising its educational system to follow that of the Bologna Accord required in the European Union. Benin has subsequently aligned its higher education system to the Bologna Process beginning with the 2010/2011 implementation of the Licence-Master-Doctorate / LMD (Licentiate-Master-Doctorate) degree structure patterned after the current French system of education under the Bologna Accord.
The Bologna Process stipulates a global educational structure of three cycles: the first cycle (Licence) is 3 or 4 years; the second (Master) cycle is 2 or 1 year, so that the total of the first and second cycles together is at least 5 years; and the third cycle is a Doctoral degree. This structure is referred to as the LMD, or Licence-Master-Doctorat system of education.
The LMD system also encourages, but does not require, the usage of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System. In the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), one year of full-time study results in 60 ECTS credits. In Benin, a 3-year Licence would require completion of 180 ECTS credits and would be considered comparable to a US Bachelor's degree. Master degrees in Benin typically require 2 years of study and 120 ECTS credits, which is considered comparable to the a US Master's degree. However, not all programs or institutions utilize the ECTS credit system; French-style coefficients are still common in recognized programs.
Prior to the implementation of the LMD degree structure, universities in Benin typically offered the Diplome d'Etudes Universitaires Generales and Diplome de Maitrise as its two primary university-level credentials. Most institutions utilize their own coefficient system of weights instead of ECTS credits or another credit-based system. Grading both before and after the LMD system relied on the standard 20-point French system of grading.
There are dozens of higher education institutions in Benin that are operating outside of the national higher education structure and offering unrecognized programs. It is common for the same institution offer both recognized and unrecognized programs. Sometimes that’s because the institution is applying for recognition of a new program, and sometimes because the institutions has no intention of applying to obtain reconnu par l’etat (state recognition) for the unrecognized program, which makes things more complicated.
The common characteristics of these unrecognized programs are an English-language curriculum following the 4-year Nigerian system of credits and grading scale rather than the 3-year French system of coefficients or ECTS credits and 20-point grading used by most recognized programs. Periodically, we do see unrecognized program that culminate in 3-year English-language Bachelor of Science degrees, but they typically still follow a credit and grading system modeled off the Nigerian system, even including the degree classifications and range of grade points, percentage scores, and quality points.
Benin is a Francophone country, and French is the official language of teaching and instruction in higher education. Recognized programs in Benin’s higher education institutions typically follow the French 20-point system of grading. When credits are used, they usually follow the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System/ECTS, credit system or the older French-style coefficient system. The academic transcript, or releve de notes, may vary in format by institution, but there are common characteristics not seen on the English-language documents from unrecognized programs.
For these programs outside the approved system, the transcript and degree are issued entirely in English, and the programs are usually advertised and taught in English. Commonly, students will earn degrees such as A 4-year “Bachelor of Computer Sciences,” “Bachelor of Science,” “Bachelor of Business Administration,” or “Bachelor of Social Sciences.”
A 4-year Bachelor of Science degree is not part of the formal, recognized education system in Benin, either before or after the LMD educational structure changes. In Benin, a contemporary undergraduate degree program typically leads to the Licence are three years of full-time study and completion of 180 ECTS credits. Furthermore, the program would be offered in French using the French grading system.
However, “Bachelor of Science” degrees, and the others listed above, are offered in Nigeria, and they are typically 4-year programs. In addition, the transcript follows a Nigerian grading system rather than the French style grading used in accredited programs in Benin. The transcripts for these unrecognized programs also typically follow a credit system more closely aligned with the Nigerian system, but not what is seen in the national higher education structure of Benin. Unrecognized English-language programs often use the 100-400 level nomenclature for 4-year Nigerian Bachelor programs and refer to their official academic records as transcripts rather than releves de notes.
It is relatively common for Benin higher education institutions to have the authorization to offer Licence programs that are approved by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, sometimes even in fields related to the English-language program culminating in a Bachelor degree. However, these English-language programs are not approved by the Ministry.
In fact, no English programs are accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education of Benin, which is a French-speaking country. There are a small number of programs leading to a “Bachelor” degree that are recognized by the Ministry, but they have programmatic accreditation in specific fields.
Other characteristics we sometimes see on transcripts for unrecognized programs offered by recognized Benin universities:
While the transcript may list the institution’s address as Benin, the website listed on the transcripts includes phones numbers and offices in Nigeria.
The higher education institution’s English website, which may mention Nigeria repeatedly, also includes lists of other universities in Benin, a large percentage of which are on the Benin Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research’s list of suspended universities.
It is also common for the institution to have multiple websites, and the French sites reference only the recognized programs, while the English site(s) only mention the unrecognized English-language programs.
Benin is a Francophone country, and French is the official language of teaching and instruction in higher education, but the transcript are issued entirely in English. The student will state that there are no French-language documents because the program was entirely in English.
We often see that applicants with English-language Bachelor degrees from Benin have enrolled after completing secondary education in Nigeria or another Anglophone African country.
For English-speaking Bachelor programs offered by institutions that are also authorized to offer some recognized programs, it’s even more layered. The diploma will often reference a very specific type of order number*, such as No 001/MESRS/CAB/DC/SGM/DPP/DGES/SP (date) or No 009/MESRS/CAB/DC/SGM/DPP/DGES/DEPES/SA (date). After researching the order number, it corresponds to the date of creation or date of approval by the Ministry for that institution to offer programs in general. But further research shows that the programs do not match the English-language Bachelor degree.
*It is important to note that sometimes recognized programs will also list the order number on an Attestation de Diplome or official Diplome, so the inclusion of this order number does not automatically signify that the program is not recognized. The order number can actually be very helpful in tracking down recognition or lack thereof sometimes. Recognized programs may also list other order numbers or decrees referring to the national education system, when the institution was authorized, when the institution adopted the LMD system, and more.
Recognized programs are far more likely to list the name of the the Ministere de l’Enseignement Superieur et de la Recherche Scientifique (but not always) on the official diploma above the name of the type of diploma awarded. Unrecognized programs will often mention the Ministry on the transcripts or website rather than on the diploma. If the applicant provides an Attestation de Diplome rather than the actual diploma, there is far less standardization. However, English-language programs generally do not include an Attestation de Diplome, since it’s much easier for English-language programs to reissue the official, unrecognized degree certificate.
It is common for institutions offering unrecognized programs to claim a connection with the Nigerian Ministry of Education to confirm the validity of its degrees, even advertising a letter from the Ministry of Education’s Education and Support Service department. The only connection we have been able to find is through the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), which runs compulsory one-year development placements for Nigerian graduates. In recent years, however, the Ministry of Education has said they would block graduates with unreliable qualifications from Benin from partaking in the program.
In addition, in January 2024, Nigeria halted evaluated and accreditation for any degrees from Benin due to a news expose regarding selling university degrees in Benin to Nigerians. The universities named share many similarities with others that were not named but also offer unaccredited programs: undated transcripts; transcripts with QR codes that authenticate the documents on the institution’s website; Nigerian students earning degrees from Benin while living in Nigeria but not enrolling in online classes; offering health-related courses without having students required to attend laboratories; Nigerian-style education and grading and English-language documents from universities located in French-speaking Benin; and websites targeting Nigerian students by claiming the degrees are accredited and/or recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education, Benin and the Ministry of Education, Nigeria.
It is also important to note that, in Nigeria, both universities and their programs must also be recognized by their higher education authority to be considered accredited. In Nigeria, the accreditation authority is the National Universities Commission (NUC), not the Ministry of Education.
Resources:
Concern over Nigerian Students Who Get Fake Degrees in Benin. University World News: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20220108145533388
Conseil Africain et Malgache pour l’Enseignement Superieur: https://pred.cames.online/web/home/resultats and https://www.lecames.org/diplome_cames/web/site/repertoire and https://www.lecames.org/diplome_cames/web/site/repertoire-simple
National Youth Services Corps: https://www.nysc.gov.ng/foreignevereq.html and https://www.nysc.gov.ng/foreignmobreq.html
National Universities Commission, Nigeria: https://www.nuc.edu.ng/nigerian-univerisities/private-univeristies/ and https://www.nuc.edu.ng/2224-2/ and https://www.nuc.edu.ng/undergraduate-accreditation-results/ and https://www.nuc.edu.ng/nuc-cames-sign-mou-on-quality-assurance/
Ministry of Higher Education, Benin: https://enseignementsuperieur.gouv.bj/universites/TYPE_UNIVERSITE_UNIVERSITE and https://enseignementsuperieur.gouv.bj/uploads/documents_directory/47e050062b3aa3a6cc201193a499a7f2.pdf and https://enseignementsuperieur.gouv.bj/doc/LISTE_EPES_ACTUALISEE.pdf and https://enseignementsuperieur.gouv.bj/uploads/documents_directory/4bf5d5a3f5d7c11451bb3bf034d2b654.pdf and https://web.archive.org/web/20191207201429/http://fnrsit.bj/Pdf/Liste%20officielle%20EPES%20diplomes%20reconnus_version%20actuelle%20(10_08_2015).pdf and http://web.archive.org/web/20210506192659/https://enseignementsuperieur.gouv.bj/htdocs/enssup/carte-universitaire/ and https://enseignementsuperieur.gouv.bj/uploads/universite_directory/85b712cd25f07f6b8487f34bbd4a8659.pdf and https://web.archive.org/web/20191207194730/https://enseignementsuperieur.gouv.bj/doc/liste_epes/liste_officielle_provisoire_agrement_defavorable.pdf
Over 45 Universities Affected as Nigeria Halts Evaluation for Togolese, Beninese Degrees. The Cable.
Undercover: How Daily Nigerian Reporter Bagged Cotonou Varsity Degree in 6 Weeks, Participated in NYSC Scheme. Daily Nigerian: https://dailynigerian.com/undercover-how-daily-nigerian/