LATEST - Nigeria universities/poly introduce New method of conducting Post utme exam

With the scrapping of the post-Unified Tertiary
Matriculation Examination, some universities in the
country have created fresh measures to screen their
candidates for the 2016/2017 academic session, findings
by our correspondents have revealed.
While some have merely tagged the new measures as
“screening of certificates”, others insist that their
candidates must sit for other written examinations.
This comes as some others have yet to roll out the
modalities in place of the post-UTME.
The Minister of Education, Mr. Adamu Adamu, while
declaring open a Combined Policy Meeting on admission
to universities, polytechnics and other higher institutions,
in Abuja, two weeks ago, announced the scrapping of the
post-UTME.
He described subjecting candidates to another round of
examination after the UTME conducted by the Joint
Admissions and Matriculation Board as unnecessary.
At the Lagos State University, Ojo, where the authorities
said they would respect the Federal Government’s
directive, its Head, Centre for Information, Press and
Public Relations, Mr. Martin Adekoya, said the university
had initiated a fresh screening measure.
Adekoya said, “For now, I may not totally rule out any
further examination but the university has inaugurated a
screening method.”
Finding by one of our correspondents show that the
university is allegedly demanding N5,000 for this year’s
post-UTME registration. The school, it was also gathered,
had scheduled the registration for between June 9 and
24.
For the University of Benin, which has already fixed
between June 27 and July 9 for the what it called
“Computer-based screening” at its Ugbowo campus, the
candidates would pay an application fee of N2,000 that
excludes other charges such as those for past questions
as well as Interswitch and Portal Services.
But while some schools are still rolling out the modalities,
Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, one of our
correspondents gathered, has already conducted the
post-UTME.
Justifying the examination, the Head, Corporate Affairs,
Mr. Tunde Olofintila, said, “We ran our post-UTME on
Saturday. In the past, people came in with jumbo marks
they could not defend. So, the post-UTME is a way of
checking this.”
The founder of the university, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN),
had earlier faulted the scrapping of the post-UTME.
Meanwhile, the University of Ibadan said its Senate had
yet to release modalities for the screening of candidates
to the ivory tower.
Its Director of Communications, Mr. Olatunji Oladejo,
who confirmed this to one of our correspondents on
Monday, however, said that the university was aware that
scammers were trying to defraud some candidates
seeking admission to the school.
He said, “The university has not taken a decision on
modalities for admission but we will let members of the
public know as soon as possible. The screening criteria
will be peculiar to the standard set by the institution.
“We are aware of admission scammers who have been
luring parents and candidates into believing that they
could influence their admission into the school. They
reportedly collect N40,000 from each candidate but we
are using this opportunity to warn parents and
candidates to beware of such scammers. They do not
represent the admission office of the school or its
management. So far, the school has not released its 2016
admission guideline.”
Also, the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Ojere, Abeokuta,
Ogun State, through its Public Relations Officer, Sulaiman
Adebiyi, said the institution was considering a number of
options to replace the post-UTME.
The polytechnic, he said, would insist on the candidates’
UTME as well as the West African Senior School
Certification Examination results.
Adebiyi said, “The institution has not arrived at any
option yet but we are considering a number of options.
Definitely, any student seeking admission into MAPOLY
must meet the cut off mark by the JAMB and he or she
must have good grades in his or her ‘O’ level results.
“As I told you, we have yet to take any final decision on
that. But soon, the modalities will be worked out.”
Similarly, the Head, Directorate of Public Relations,
Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Mrs. Emi
Alawode, said the Governing Council and the Senate of
the institution were still consulting with relevant
stakeholders on the most appropriate substitute for the
scrapped post-UTME.
She said, “As soon as the conclusion is reached, we will
make it public.”
For the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo
State, its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Adegbenro
Adebanjo, said the school would wait for further directive
from the Federal Ministry of Education.
Adebanjo said, “What we are trying to do in our pre-
admission screening is to ensure that we take appropriate
guidance from the Federal Ministry of Education. What we
are going to do will be in the ambit of the directive of the
ministry. “
One of the private universities in the state, the Achiever’s
University, Owo, said it adopted simple traditional mode
of screening the students by checking their results and
interviewing them to assess their level of intelligence
quotient.
The Head, Public Relations of the institution, Mr. Adebayo
Olagunju, who said admission process had commenced
in the university, noted that its potential students were
currently passing through the screening in line with the
style of the school.
He said, “We have commenced the screening now for our
new students. What we normally do is to invite them and
we check their results and interview them to know their
characters. So, anybody found to be deficient will be
screened out. “
In a related development, the Vice-Chancellor of the Ekiti
State University, Ado Ekiti, Prof. Samuel Bandele, has
backed the scrapping of the post-UTME, describing it as
“unnecessary duplication.”
Bandele, who spoke at a briefing in Ado Ekiti, said, “The
scrapping of post-UTME is a good one, but this cannot
stop the universities from screening prospective students
because that has been the tradition even before the
advent of JAMB.”
Also, the VC of the Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun
State, Prof. Debo Adeyewa, said the university would not
conduct another examination for candidates.
Adeyewa, who said universities in other climes had their
ways of screening students for admission, noted that the
idea of centralised university admission did not support
university autonomy.
He said, “The post-UTME is one component of screening.
We still have other ways of screening the students to
know if their credentials are genuine and to know their
background.
“We screen to know more about the character of the
students. We do not conduct another examination but we
will screen their credentials.”