The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said it has successfully conducted the foreign component of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in eight foreign countries.
According to the Board, the examinations, which were held on Saturday, July 13, was designed for foreign candidates seeking admission to Nigerian tertiary institutions, reports Nigerian Tribune.
It listed the cities were the examinations were held to include, London, United Kingdom; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Buea, Cameroon; Accra, Ghana; Cotonou, Benin Republic; Johannesburg, South Africa; Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire; and Banjul, The Gambia.
JAMB in its yesterday’s Bulletin obtained in Abuja, noted that by conducting the examination in these foreign locations, the Board aimed to showcase Nigerian tertiary institutions to a global audience, placing them at par with their international counterparts.
“This initiative has successfully attracted international students to Nigerian universities. Furthermore, JAMB has incorporated the number of foreign students admitted by an institution as a criterion for the NATAP M-Award, recognizing institutions that excel in international student recruitment,” it stated.
Meanwhile, the Board has reaffirmed that the 2024 admission exercise would soon commence as arrangements have been concluded to the Admission Policy Meeting on Thursday, July 18.
Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, would chair the 2024 policy meeting, which authorizes the commencement of the year’s admission exercise.
The Board further indicated that this year’s exercise would also feature the National Tertiary Admissions’ Performance-Merit Award (NATAP-M Awards), where the overall winner would receive N500 million and other consolation winners would share N250 million collectively.
The policy meeting, attended by Vice-Chancellors of Universities, Rectors of Polytechnics, Monotechnics, and Innovation Enterprise Institutes, Provosts of Colleges of Education, and other critical stakeholders, would consider and approve the guidelines for the 2024 admission exercise.
The meeting would also review the performance of the 2023 admissions exercise and the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) performance of candidates.
“The minimum admission scores, an aggregation of individual institutions’ submissions, will be approved at the meeting.
“This is not a cut-off mark, as often misconstrued, but a minimum score that no institution should go below. The decisions made at the meeting, chaired by the Hon Minister of Education, form the guiding norms for admission and are a collective decision, not solely that of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
“No institution is expected to commence the admission process until after the policy meeting, as the guidelines regulating the year’s admission exercise are determined at the meeting with the endorsement of the Hon Minister of Education.
“The meeting declares the commencement of the year’s admission exercise, setting the grand norms, and any institution that violates these collective norms will face sanctions.
“A key rule is that all admissions must be processed through the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), and any candidate who accepts admission outside CAPS does so at their own risk,” the board stated.
