•To release first batch of admissions soon THE Registrar and Chief Executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, has warned universities and other tertiary institutions against arbitrary conduct of the 2016 admissions. He said specifically that the Board would reject any such arbitrarily admission lists sent to JAMB for approval from any of the tertiary institutions while insisting that due process must be followed. He spoke on Friday at an extra-ordinary 2016 Technical Committee meeting on admissions into First (1st) Choice Institutions holding in Baze University, Abuja. The JAMB Registrar, however, disclosed that the first batch of the 2016 admissions would be released before the end of third week of September. He noted that in the course of the First (1st) Technical Meeting, it was observed that some institutions were brazenly arbitrary in their criteria for admission. Oloyede insisted that as a referee, the Board would “resist such arbitrariness and illegal introduction of extraneous factors which were not contained in the published advertisement made available to the candidates”. He said: “We will not accept whatever is done arbitrarily. I hope those that are here will make adjustment. They must be able to explain why somebody with high score was not given admission. “What we are saying is that people should follow due process. Universities have the right to have criteria for admission but the criteria must be reasonable, the criteria must be explicit,” he said. He reiterated his earlier pronouncement that the Senate and the Academic Boards of the institutions have the primary responsibility of recommending candidates to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board for admissions. He added that the Board would not initiate or insert any candidate(s) but will, as expected, ensure that no candidate is unjustly treated by any institution. The JAMB boss, however, said the right of Senate or Academic Board of each institution on admissions of candidates should be subject only to National Policies such as: “The guidelines stipulated by the proprietors of the institutions; 60:40 (Science/Art) ratio for Conventional Universities; 80:20 (Science/Art) ratio for Non-Conventional Universities; 70:30 (Technology/Non-Technology) ratio for National Diploma Awarding Institutions “Use of 2016 JAMB UTME results printouts for all candidates; adherence to published subject combinations of various courses as specified by the Senate/Academic Board and included in the 2016 JAMB Brochure; adherence to the 2016 Admissions Quota as prescribed by the Regulatory Bodies (NUC/NBTE/NCCE), “For Federal Universities, the quota stipulated by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) concerning Merit, Catchment and Educationally Less Developed States should be complied with. “It is necessary to add that the admissions process is an opportunity for selfless and patriotic service for which enormous reward accrues before man and God, if sincerely and competently discharged,” he said. According to him, the special meeting was an indication that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board is always ready to attend to legitimate requests of its stakeholders and clients in our collective quest to be reasonable, efficient and helpful to the development of the Nation and humanity. Oloyede said the Board shall always be flexible except in cases where flexibility is unethical or inimical to the National interest. “You would recall that at the First (1st) Technical Meeting which was held in Bayero University, Kano, between 22nd to 26th August, 2016, where institutions were expected to make submissions for their first choice admissions to the Admissions Panels at the Technical Sessions. “However, some institutions informed the meeting that they were not ready to make submissions as internal processes leading to the exercise had not been completed. “The affected institutions requested for an earlier date than the date for the Second (2nd) Technical Committee meeting scheduled for Owerri, Imo State. “This created this window of opportunity for the purpose. Despite the fact that the window is the most expensive one, a house can have, (about N10,000,000.00 – Ten Million Naira), we accommodate it because of the conviction that it is helpful to the institutions and that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board is to facilitate and enhance (and not to hinder) the efficiency of the institutions. “It is expected that, as was assured during the meeting in Bayero University, Kano, institutions here present are well prepared to make presentation of their recommended candidates to the Board,” he said. Oloyede added that the only difference between the 2016 admissions process and what has always been the practice, is the policy that there should be no written post UTME test. “What we said was that some of the recommedation the institutions brought earlier were not explicit interms of criteria. And we have ásked our colleagues in the universities to send better criteria. “I have a particular school where the person who scored the highest was not taken and the reason was that the university changed its rules. That will not be accepted. “You cannot change the rules when the game is on. You have to wait till 2017 to publish the new rules. You cannot have a particular rule and changed to another” The Registrar said the Board would work with all stakeholders to smoothen all processes. “Where things are not done properly we wil not be only doing what is right but we will be seen by reasonable people that we have done what is right,” he said. On carrying capacity of tertiary institutions in the country, Oloyede, said this was a national problem, citing instances where institutions admit students far above their carrying capacity. “I think its a national problem where people over-shoot their carrying capacity certainly against the rules and this will affect quality of students. Only few institutions are admitting below carrying capacity due to certain issues,” he said.]]>