Universities, Polys Adopt Fresh Measures For Post-utme

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.”