Education

How Universities Will Conduct Admission This Year

Published

8 years ago

May 24, 2017

How Universities will Conduct Admission this Year. After the recent scrapping of post utme exam by the federal government, you might be wondering how the universities will conduct admission this year.

Going by the reactions of candidates over the withdrawal of the list of candidates sent to tertiary institutions for admission consideration by JAMB, it is important we clarify a few things to avoid confusion and ensure candidates are properly guided.

So here are important things you should know and keep in mind concerning this new development;

1. The University senate now has autonomy to select candidates for admission. However the list of selected candidates must pass through JAMB for approval and issuance of admission letters.

2. Whether or not you were posted to a school or not for admission consideration earlier no longer matters. As the posting is no longer valid. All you need to do now is wait for your school of choice to announce its screening exercise and ensure you participate accordingly.

3. For Tertiary institutions that have already conducted their admission screening exercise in line with JAMB stipulations, such screening still remains valid. Candidates that participated in such screening should wait for the release of the admission list(s) by their respective institutions.

4. The withdrawal of the JAMB Consideration List does not mean that post-UTME is now valid. The ban on Post-UTME remains valid. Tertiary institutions must abide to the screening modalities as earlier announced by JAMB.

5. Candidates should note that the offer of provisional admission by their schools of choice is subject to validation by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

The Joint Admission And Matriculation Board held a meeting at the B.O Ukeje Auditorium, Nation Commission for colleges of Education, Central Business District Abuja on Tuesday 28th, 29th and 30th to map out admission screening modalities for Colleges of education, polytechnics and Universities.

The meeting was chaired by the permanent secretary ministry of education, Dr. Shade Yemi-Esan.

After evaluating the screening models of some schools in previous years and other factors surrounding the admission processes in tertiary institution in the country, JAMB released a proposed model for the screening of recommended candidates.

PROPOSED JAMB MODEL FOR SCREENING OF RECOMMENDED CANDIDATES

1. Screening of candidates shall be for ONLY candidates recommended for admissions.

2. No written examination to be conducted.

3. Verification of Course Requirements (O’ levels or A’ levels).

4. Verification of valid JAMB results by checking:

i. Online Result Slip

ii. Printout

iii. Photo Album

v. Checklist

vi. Biometrics

5. Institutions are free to source from other Course(s) to

compensate for SHORTFALL in any of the criteria.

If the proposed model for admission as proposed by JAMB is to be adopted for 2016/2017 admission process, below is how the admission process will run and all you should know about it.

1. JAMB must offer a candidate an admission before such candidates qualifies for screening in the institution he or she has been provisionally admitted. This means that institutions can only screening candidates sent to them by JAMB as having been provisionally admitted in such institution.

2. Institutions admission screening processes will now be based on point system. The first on the point system is the O’level grading. Candidates who have only one O-level result will stand a better chance of gaining admission than candidates with 2 results. One 0’level result = 10marks/points while two O’level results = 3 marks/points.

Similarly, each grade will now have its equivalent points/marks in this manner; A=6 marks, B=4 marks, C=3 marks which means the having better grades in your O’level result gives you a better chance of securing admission.

The next to be considered on the point system is your UTME Score. Candidates will be awarded marks/points based on their 180-200=20-23 marks, 200-250=24-33 points, 251-300=34-43, 300-400=44-60 points. The higher your score, the higher your chances of securing admission.

This means that what we previously know as institutions cut-off-marks will now be known as institutions cut-off points which will be arrived at after putting all the aforementioned into consideration.

3. JAMB provisional admission is now a means to an end and not an end itself. This means that JAMB may offer a candidate a provisional admissions and such candidate will still be denied admission by his/her institution because he or she comes below the cut-off point for his/her course in that particular institution.

For instance you may be given provisional admission to study MBBS in UNIBEN by JAMB having obtained a UTME score of 260. If your institution’s cut-off point for medicine is 95 points and you come below that number of points after the screening, you will likely be denied admission.

4. Admission process will still put into considerations factors like catchment area and ELDS (Educationally Less Developed States) in determining the number of candidates admitted. Admission by merit is 45%, catchment area 35% and ELDS 20%.

The issue of Science to arts ratio will still be in place. For universities Science to arts ratio will be 60:40 , Polytechnics 70:30. However for specialized institutions (Technology, Science Agriculture etc) it will be 100% related to their specialty. Also 90% of admission will go to UTME candidates while 10% will go to Direct Entry candidates.

5. Schools are still at liberty to charge a certain fee for the screening of candidates. However, the Board did not stipulate how much institutions are to charge for this.

A Former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, NUC, Professor Peter Okebukola, has disclosed that the scrapping of Post-UTME means that tertiary institutions will now go back to the agreement NUC had with Vice-Chancellors in 2004 when it introduced Post-UTME which is to screen candidates on oral interview and written essay.

He pointed out that tertiary institutions were not suppose to conduct screening for candidates similar to that of JAMB as that was the part of the agreement guiding the introduction of Post-UTME. He lamented that tertiary institutions have since deviated from that agreement.

According to him, admission seekers are supposed to attain minimum cognitive competence in the relevant subjects in the discipline they wished to study; which is the aspect JAMB examination covers and also attain competence in written and oral English, critical thinking and ability to present ideas in logical sequence which is what Post-UTME should be all about.

Because of this face, there is every reason to belief that some schools may still conduct post utme exam. However, it is important to know if you school will write post utme exam this year.

Students who applied for the school in JAMB and have met requirements (minimum of 180 in JAMB and a Credit in Maths and English including subjects relevant to your course choice) will come for the screening with their credentials. At the screening, they present their results and answer a couple of questions (orally) based on your applied course (usually basic knowledge questions) after which they await the result of this exam.

This usually means getting admission from JAMB directly (first list)…and then 2 subsequent lists from the school.

Now, here’s the catch. Getting the admission doesn’t mean you’re home free. Thousands are usually given this admission into 100 level, but they don’t get an Admission letter from the school in their 100 level, because a second screening happens in 200 level.

If a student is unable to finish 100 level with a CGPA of 2.5 (3.5 in Medicine), he or she will be screened out of the school. Only those who achieve this mark remain in 200 level and are subsequently given the school’s Admission letter.

Before the collection of this letter, it’s safe to assume that you’re not fully a University student until the end of this period of probation.

This screening usually leaves the school with at least half of the initially admitted students which is the needed population.

How will universities determine cutoff marks to admit students.

Before putme was introduced in 2005, universities have been admitting people and bringing out cutoff marks though the system varies in different schools.

Some universities used both Jamb results and o’levels points, some used only Jamb results. We are concerned about UNN and how they used to run admission when there was no putme.

Like I said, before putme was introduced UNN still used to run her admission same way she does now; the only difference is that there was nothing like an average score. As we all know, since the introduction of putme UNN makes use of an average score of putme and utme scores to determine your score for admission. The cutoff marks are determined by general performance in putme.

After the release of primary list, there will be an advertisement for supplementary form in which those that will score 180/200 and above in “PUTME” will be eligible to purchase, fill a lower course that has a lower cutoff mark than your average score and compete with others that will purchase and fill same course with you.

If you do not purchase this supplementary form, you will likely not get admission in subsequent lists called supplementary lists. There is nothing like enrolling your name in a lower course if you do not purchase the supplementary form as a compensation for not being admitted in your original course.

You must purchase the supplementary form for you to be enrolled in a lower course and not everyone who purchases the supplementary form must be admitted in a lower course you fill even when your average score is above the cutoff mark of that course you will fill, its mostly by merit for those with high scores, sorting with money for those who can afford it and also luck.

Now you have understood how UNN runs admission with putme, lets discus how UNN used to run admission without putme.

Like I said, there is no much difference. After utme (Jamb) is written, UNN maps out cutoff marks for different courses which they dont make public.

The cutoff marks are determined based on the general performance in utme. The better people perform in utme, the higher the cutoff marks and vice versa.

After the release of primary list, there will be an advertisement for supplementary form in which people who score 180/200 in utme (Jamb) and choose UNN in utme will be eligible to purchase.

During my own time when there was no putme, I entered UNN through supplementary by purchasing supplementary form then because I was cut off from my original course since I didn’t score up to the cutoff mark.

There was nothing like enrolling you into another course no matter what your score would be, you must purchase a supplementary form. Sorting of admission with money was very common then.