The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and Veritas University, Abuja, have backed a shift in direction of skills-based evaluation in college admissions, because the examination physique considers introducing important considering and life expertise into the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The JAMB Registrar, Professor Segun Aina, disclosed this when he obtained a delegation from Veritas University, led by its Vice-Chancellor, Rev Fr Professor Hyacinth Ichoku, at his workplace.
Aina mentioned the proposed evaluation would allow universities to think about candidates’ broader talents past tutorial efficiency when making admission choices.
He counseled Veritas University for emphasising expertise acquisition amongst its college students, noting that the establishment’s strategy aligned with JAMB’s imaginative and prescient of incorporating important considering and life expertise into the UTME.
According to him, JAMB has arrange a committee to look at the potential of introducing the brand new evaluation part as a part of efforts to enhance the candidate expertise and make college admissions extra inclusive.
“We have tried to roll out a myriad of initiatives across different facets and different parts of the value chain of the candidate experience. One of the major things we did was to set up a committee to look into the introduction of life skills and critical thinking into UTME,” he mentioned.
The registrar argued that candidates who had already been assessed on topic data on the Ordinary Level may not should be assessed on the identical foundation alone for college placement.
He, nevertheless, harassed that the proposed reform would require collaboration with universities and different stakeholders.
“We are looking into the possibility of fusing life skills and critical thinking into the UTME examination, and we feel that this sub-component of assessment will be a very valuable tool, particularly for institutions,” Aina mentioned.
He defined that the proposed association may permit universities to think about candidates whose UTME scores fell beneath the same old cut-off marks in the event that they carried out exceptionally nicely within the important considering and life expertise part.
“We should be able to find institutions that will say our cut-off for this course is 200, but we will take 190 if you score over 80 per cent in the critical thinking and life skills component of the examination,” he mentioned.
Aina added that some candidates who may not carry out exceptionally nicely academically may nonetheless possess different talents that made them appropriate for college schooling.
“I think we must begin to shift to a direction where we are assessing people based on their all-round capability, not just their academic prowess on the day of assessment,” he mentioned.
The JAMB registrar additionally disclosed that the board was introducing technology-driven measures to deal with administrative challenges confronted by candidates and graduates, significantly these whose private particulars didn’t match the data on their National Identification Number (NIN) data.
He mentioned some graduates who had been duly admitted via JAMB and accomplished their college schooling had been unable to proceed to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) due to discrepancies between the biodata used throughout UTME registration and their NIN data.
“There are cases of people who have completed their studies for four or five years and cannot do NYSC because there is a mismatch between the details with which they registered for their JAMB and the details on their NIN, and that stops them from proceeding,” he mentioned.
He urged universities, together with Veritas University, to cooperate with JAMB in guaranteeing that admissions complied with the permitted central admissions course of, warning that administrative choices may have lasting penalties for college kids.
Earlier, Ichoku congratulated Aina on his appointment as JAMB registrar and pledged Veritas University’s cooperation with the board in implementing measures to enhance the admission course of.
He mentioned the delegation’s go to was supposed to welcome the registrar and want him success in his new nationwide project.
The vice-chancellor additionally knowledgeable Aina concerning the forthcoming Pan-African University Debating Championship, which Veritas University is internet hosting with the endorsement of the Federal Ministry of Education, and invited him to attend.
Ichoku additional mentioned Veritas University college students had participated in and gained a number of nationwide and worldwide competitions in sports activities, debating and know-how innovation.
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