FOR the fifth consecutive year, the University of Ilorin has again emerged as the most preferred University by admission seekers this year.
About 86,401 candidates made the University their first choice institution in the last Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) moderated Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) out of which 47,206 UTME candidates scored 180 and above.
Statistics released by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) during the 2018 JAMB Admission Policy meeting held recently listed other nine most selected universities as Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) -74,635; the University of Benin (UNIBEN) – 70,322; the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) – 66,486; the University of Lagos (UNILAG) – 62,436; Bayero University, Kano (BUK) – 56,261; Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU)-48,646; Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (UNIZIK) – 48,554; the University of Ibadan (UI) – 47,544; and the University of Jos (UNIJOS) – 46,082.
Meanwhile, the 2018/2019 Post-UTME screening registration for candidates seeking admission into the University commenced last Monday (July 23, 2018), with the Chairman of the University Admissions Committee, Prof. Oba T. Mustapha, assuring all those concerned of a hitch-free exercise. The Post-UTME screening proper is expected to begin on August 27, 2018.
Prof. Mustapha, who gave the assurance in an interview in Ilorin, said that the rules and regulations governing the admission process would be strictly adhered to.
According to Prof. Mustapha, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Sulayman Abdulkareem and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Prof. (Mrs.) Sylvia O. Malomo, have been supportive in ensuring a smooth Post-UTME screening registration exercise and eventually a hitch-free Post-UTME exercise in August.
The Admission Committee Chairman said, “All the units of the University concerned with the admission exercise are in place and they have been very supportive. We have been meeting and we have been making preparations; we are in contact with COMSIT because they play a big role in the Post-UTME and the admission process. We have been meeting with the DVC Academic, Prof. Sylvia Malomo, who is in charge of anything academic in this University; she has been very supportive since she came in. Her predecessor, Prof. (Mrs.) N. Y. S. Ijaiya was also very experienced in this type of thing.”
“The DVC Academic (Prof. Malomo) was my Dean while I was H.O.D. of my Department; so she is up to the task and has been doing everything possible to make sure that we have a smooth 2018 admission exercise. So, we are fully prepared and every unit concerned has been very supportive, so we are up to the task”, Prof. Mustapha said.
Shedding light on the admissions process, Prof. Mustapha disclosed that there were 47,206
UTME candidates who scored 180 and above and 9,571 Direct Entry candidates, totalling 56, 777, after the initial download of data sent from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The Professor of Plant Biology disclosed that at the 2018 JAMB Policy Meeting which held in June, the University of Ilorin happened to be the most subscribed University in the 2017 admission exercise, covering all states in Nigeria including the FCT as well as having the highest number of international students. “Other institutions that admitted international students did not admit more than three, but in our own case, we had even up to 146 or so; others were encouraged to do that in the current admission exercise”, he noted.
Prof. Mustapha, who further maintained that the University will only admit students based on the criteria of merit, catchment area and educationally less developed states (ELDS), said, “As at 9 o’ clock this morning (Thursday, July 26, 2018), 8, 132 had already registered” for the University screening test.
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He said, “As far as the University of Ilorin is concerned, we normally follow the rules and regulations. One thing with us, when we set our rules, when we set our standards, we don’t normally break that”.
“For instance, if we say you need to score 260 in JAMB before you can do Medicine, we don’t go back on that”, Prof. Mustapha explained, pointing out that, a candidate with less than 260 scores would be unable to register for Medicine but said that there may be alternative courses which may not include medical-related courses such as Anatomy, Pharmacy or Physiology.
He, however, disclosed that “there will be drop courses for such a candidate. But part of that drop down courses may not include Anatomy, Pharmacy, Physiology… you know for somebody who wants to do Medicine”, adding that “this is because all those courses have been oversubscribed by those who originally chose those courses, so there is no way such courses will drop down for such a candidate. So stakeholders would now be complaining that they are now seeing B.Ed. Agric, …Education and so on. It is only in courses where we have a shortage that we have dropped down for them, so we have always been consistent.”
Prof. Mustapha, however, said that candidates are free to register for their preferred courses once they meet the cut-off marks for such courses.
The Admission Committee Chairman explained further, “Remember, we have a quota for each of our programmes. Take for instance Medicine; our quota for Medicine is just 200. So, by the time we look at the number of those that scored 260 marks and above, it will be more than the 200 quotas for Medicine…We must admit based on merit, based on catchment and based on EDLS. Those are the things we consider. So, somebody from Oyo State that scored maybe 283, will not be taken because Oyo is not one of the catchment areas of the University of Ilorin, but somebody who scored maybe 262 may be taken based on either catchment or EDLS .”
The don enjoined potential candidates coming to sit for the screening test to be well behaved and well dressed in accordance with the University’s dress code, which is stated on the website.
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