The Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) has hinted in a statement it issued on Sunday that it could be relinquishing responsibility of setting cut-off marks for its examinations to universities. This new position taken by the examinations body comes as changes are being made to the nation’s university admissions process.
Dr. Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Head of Media and Information, said yesterday that the board was leaning towards giving universities greater freedom to decide whether candidates applying to be admitted into them meet their (the institutions’) criteria.
“Let institutions admit what they want according to their needs”, Dr. Fabian said. “This means that if a university wants 250 as minimum cut off mark, why not let it be and if another wants less, then so be it”.
He indicated that tertiary institutions could select qualified candidates which met their own requirements, rather than having to accept them based on “collective standard”.
“Institutions should be known for their individual quality and not collective standard”, Dr. Fabian opined. “This will foster positive competition for the overall good of our tertiary institutions”.
A number of changes have recently been made to the university admissions process. The Post UTME (Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination) tests conducted by tertiary institutions have been scrapped, and registration scratch cards purchased by UTME candidates will be replaced by registration PINs generated through computers and smartphones. However, a bill recently passed by Federal lawmakers seeking to increase the validity period of UTME results from a year to three has generated much controversy.
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