Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has warned institutions to apply the 180 and 150 cut-off marks for universities and colleges of education respectively uniformly across all candidates without discrimination.
JAMB’s Head of Media, Dr Fabian Benjamin in a statement while defending the board’s admission policy, said the decision of the Board on the print-out for this year exercise was done in good faith not to jeopardize the right of candidate due to individual cut-off set by some Nigerian tertiary institution.
It explained that those candidates who do not meet the cut-off marks of such institutions will be placed in needy institutions within their geopolitical zone depending on available space in such institutions.
“The Board's aim is to accommodate as many candidates as possible instead of just pushing them to schools we know abinitio doesn't have the carrying capacity to admit all warned universities defended the policy to redistribute candidates who have cut-off marks less than what their institutions of first choice required to needy institutions, saying that it was done to assist the candidates and their parents,” JAMB said.
While noting that the ASUU University of Ibadan chapter’s claim that the police was anti-poor was not untrue and described the union’s claim that JAMB will make about N1 billion as proceeds from candidates buying cards to check their redistribution status as unfounded.
According to JAMB, the checking is completely free and calling on parents and candidates to check the Board’s website from Thursday, 30th July, 2015, for their names and institutions they are placed in.
“That the National cut-off marks of 180 for universities and 150 for Polytechnics, Colleges of Education and Innovative Enterprise institution in the 2015 UTME was a bench mark to set the tone for 2015 admission exercise.
“The Board has redistributed the other candidates who has cut-off marks less than what their first choice required to needy institutions and we urge candidates and parent to check the Board’s website from Thursday,30st July, 2015 for their names and institutions they are placed in and it's free without paying any amount. Please for purpose of clarity the checking is FREE.”
“The decision to have a national accepted cut-off mark at policy meeting was to serve as a guide and pruning mechanism to give the tertiary institutions qualitative candidates to choose from a pool of candidates desirous of tertiary education.
“However, Universities and other levels of tertiary institutions are at liberty to go higher, but not lower, depending on their peculiarities and the performance of candidates that choose them. Provided this cut off marks are uniformly applied to all candidates based on existing admission criteria by proprietors of these institutions.
“Universities are centres of excellence anywhere in the world and ours should not be an exception. The policy witnessed in University of Lagos is aimed at ensuring that our Universities admit only the top best as done globally. The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board is working round the clock to ensure that Nigerian universities are among the best in Africa and perhaps the world in the next ranking and to also utilize the available spaces and admit more candidates bearing in mind the admission criteria of various needy institution,” it said.
For instance University of Lagos with a carrying capacity of about 9,000, has over 60,000 applying to them. The question is what happens to the over 50,000? We have other institutions like that and what we are doing is to ensure that the balance is also place in other needy institutions.
Nigerians are also urged to please believe in the Board as continually it strives to give the entire education system the best. We are not comfortable with the large number of candidates that year-in-year out sit for the Board’s matriculation examination without being admitted. It's thebelieve of the Board that this policy will address the shortfall and accommodate more candidates and ensure that admission exercise are conducted on time.
