By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Minimum acceptable marks for candidates for the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will be decided on August 31 by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and heads of tertiary institutions.
Decisions will be reached on the cut-off marks for faculty and departmental requirements and other admission issues at a policy meeting chaired by Minister of Education Adamu Adamu said JAMB Media Head Fabian Benjamin.
JAMB last year – in collaboration with university Vice-Chancellors, polytechnic Rectors, and college of education Provosts – pegged the cut-off mark for admission into the university at 160, polytechnic (120), and college of education (100).
“This (upcoming policy) meeting kick-starts the admission process into the nation’s tertiary institutions,” Benjamin explained in a bulleting released in Abuja.
“It will discuss critical issues emanating from the presentation of the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on the just-concluded Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry applications, in addition to setting the tone for the 2021/2022 Admission exercise.
“The meeting is expected to chart policy directions for the nation’s tertiary institutions, set admission guidelines and present application statistics, candidates’ performance as well as evaluate the 2020 Admission exercise.
“The meeting, in addition to other deliberations, would take a stand on acceptable minimum admissions standards to be applied in all admissions to be undertaken by all tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
“Given the critical nature of the decisions to be taken at the meeting, it would be streamed live on the Board’s website, www.jamb.gov.ng, on its Facebook handle “@JAMBULLETIN” and other social media platforms.
“The Board makes it clear that it is an abuse of process for any institution to commence any admission exercise before this meeting as it is this forum that gives this authorisation.”
Release of supplementary UTME results
JAMB released on August 9 the results of over 17,000 candidates who sat for the Mop-Up UTME on August 6.
The examination was conducted in some Computer-Based Test centres (CBT) nationwide for candidates who had problems writing the main examination in June, which drew widespread criticism for the shoddy way it was conducted.
“The results of the examination have since been released and affected candidates are required to access their results using their registration number on www.jamb.gov.ng,” Benjamin said, quoted by The Nation.
“The results were released on Monday [August 9]. Over 17,000 that turned out for the examination have their results released.”
Some candidates who had issues during the examination are having their results screened, and a JAMB official said the board would withdraw the results of those involved in malpractices, even after they have been released.
“We are screening the results of few candidates. We are screening their results to ensure that they were not involved in malpractice,” the official told The Nation.
JAMB on July 30 contacted about 18,000 candidates for the supplementary examination who were affected by the rescheduling/technical problems at 30 of the 760 CTBs used for the examination on June 19.
“Following a detailed investigation and careful analysis of the highly successful 2021 UTME, and with due consultation (resulting in gracious concession) with the National Examination Council (NECO) concerning the timetable of the council’s ongoing SSCE, JAMB has scheduled a Mop-Up UTME for Friday, August 6, 2021, in some selected locations across the nation,” Benjamin said in a statement.