The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has clarified that the recently created cut-off mark of 140 for admission to Nigerian universities does not apply to all institutions.
JAMB said a 140 score in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation
Examination (UTME) is only a minimum benchmark for universities to consider for
admissions.
The board added that it has no hand in setting the
benchmark, noting that it was a collective decision among all tertiary
institutions in the country.
This clarification, contained in a statement by Fabian
Benjamin, JAMB’s head of public affairs and protocol, was in response to a
comment by a former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU),
Nasir Fagge, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Mr. Fagge had during the interview suggested that JAMB, as
an agency, decides the uniform minimum UTME points required for admission.
“Where in the world will you have a particular outfit to
determine what is best for institutions of learning in terms of admission?” he
had said in the interview.
“How Cut-off points are set”
Mr Benjamin said before the commencement of the admission
process every year, all institutions write to JAMB, stating the preferred
cut-off points for their institutions.
“After this process, there is usually a policy meeting with
heads of all Nigerian tertiary institutions where the minimum cut-off point
will be decided,” he said.
He added that the minimum cut-off point means that no
institution can adopt the cut-off point below the agreed minimum point –which
is 140 in 2022.
Also, he noted that no institution can admit students below
their respective cut-off point submitted to JAMB.
He said: “More than 50 per cent of the universities had
submitted in writing their minimum scores of 200 and above to the Board for
presentation to the meeting for the purpose of deliberation. The implication of
this process is that no institution would be able to admit any candidate with
any score below what they had submitted as their minimum score.
“The Board does not and has never determined any uniform
national Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) scores otherwise
known as cut-off marks by the general public for any tertiary institution
because, in actual sense, there are no uniform national UTME scores,” he said.
Further clarification
Meanwhile, Mr Benjamin has clarified that all institutions
have their individual cut-off points for admissions irrespective of the agreed
cut-off points. However, no institution can go below the agreed cut-off point
of 140.
“Many candidates and some members of the general public have
been under the erroneous impression that there is a minimum national UTME score
set by the Board, which they also refer to as “cut-off point,” he said.
“The truth is that there is nothing like a national minimum
UTME score for all Universities, Polytechnics or Colleges of Education in
Nigeria as it is only individual institutions which set their minimum entry
scores based on their peculiarities.”
He added: “It should, therefore, be noted that decisions at
the annual Policy Meeting on Admission do not reduce these minimum
prescriptions emanating from the institutions except in the few situations
where these institutions had submitted minimum UTME scores that fall below what
the Policy Meeting considers as the acceptable minimum score. That is where the
much-talked-about 140 came from, which is but a baseline that no institution
should cross.”
Admission Process
JAMB also noted that the process of admission through the
Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) is decided by the criteria listed by
the institutions themselves.
He noted that the board has no hand whatsoever in deciding
the students to be admitted to any of the institutions.
He said: “The Board has no role whatsoever in the decision
of the institutions to determine how or with what criteria they want to admit.
The role of the Board is to ensure that the goal post is not shifted in the
middle of the game.”
JAMB added that the process of admission is not determined
solely by UTME scores.
“UTME score is just one of the two or three scores that are
generally cumulated to obtain the eventual aggregate score and ranking of the
candidates by most institutions.
“Other parameters are Post-UTME/Post-A/L qualifications
screening test score; O/L grade score; and in some cases, physical test (such
as applicable in the Nigerian Defence Academy/Police Academy).
Therefore, it is the score from all these segments that are
added together to have an eventual ranking table or “cut-off” score.”
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