FG to integrate varsities, other tertiary institutions in UTME conduct

• As JAMB sends list of ‘qualified’ candidates to institutions for screening

THE Federal Government is to integrate tertiary institutions in the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) being conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) as part of initiative to improve on the quality of the test administration.

This was just as JAMB has announced that it had sent the list of qualified candidates for screening in the 2016 admission exercise to all tertiary institution in the country, based on individual institution’s capacity.

The registrar and Chief Executive of JAMB, Professor ‘Dibu Ojerinde in a statement made available to newsmen on Sunday in Abuja, however, said the list was not in anyway admission list.

The institutions according to him, were expected to conduct their screening and come up with a list of successful admitted candidates for approval by JAMB, based on the criteria of merit, catchment area and educationally disadvantaged states, set by the Federal Government.

Ojerinde, also noted that if the list was not sufficient for the need of any institution, such institution could source from the omnibus printout earlier sent to them by the board.

He stressed that the public and all tertiary institutions should note that admission would only be approved by the board after appropriate screening of the candidates by the institutions.

“The list which is made up of candidates, who met the national cut-off point within the set criteria, are sent to the institutions.

“Again, for the purposes of clarity, all institutions that may need more can source from their omnibus printout as stated above. The candid intention of the board is to ensure that available spaces are adequately utilised,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Tribune has gathered that the Federal Government is making plans to fully involve the universities, colleges of education and polytechnics, in the subsequent conduct of UTME in the country.

A source close to the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, said the thinking of the minister was to ensure that universities and other tertiary institutions were involved from setting of the questions to monitoring of the conduct of the examination.

This, according to the source, would make the outcome of the test acceptable to the institutions, following the cancellation of the Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (Post-UTME), by the Federal Government and the criticism that trailed the decision.