Universiti Malaya today refuted claims that it awarded an honorary doctorate to celebrity marketing coach Azizan Osman.

This comes following social media postings alleging Azizan obtained an honorary doctorate in entrepreneurship from UM, it said.

"We hope this provides clarity over the matter," UM said in a statement on its official Facebook page.

Malaysiakini has contacted Azizan's firm Richworks for comment.

Azizan's website refers to him as 'Dr Azizan Osman', while his firm's website states that he has a honorary PhD in entrepreneurship from UM.

According to aziznosman.com, he has a PhD in management from a local university.

He describes himself as an author, speaker, "inspirational entrepreneur" and "proven success mentor who reinvented business owners to achieve higher sales, better profit and greater life".

According to Azizan's website, he holds the Malaysian record for hosting the largest motivational seminar in the country.

He has written 18 self-help books on investment and business, says his Facebook page, which has more than 800,000 followers.

His seminars have catchy titles, such as 'Millionaire Marketing Mastery'.

"He has helped more than 600,000 people through entrepreneurship seminars, which are mostly free of charge, and has in a short time helped create many successful entrepreneurs who started with no capital but now have sales worth millions of ringgit a month," his Facebook page reads.