Private Varsities Suggested We Lower The Cut Off Mark-JAMB Explains Further.

Abysmally low student enrolment into private
universities in the country has been identified as
the major reason the Joint Admissions and
Matriculation Board (JAMB) recently lowered the
minimum cut-off mark for Nigerian universities in
the 2017/2018 academic session to 120.
According to data released by the spokesperson of
JAMB, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, most private
universities already had their minimum cut-off
marks set at 120, even before the decision by the
board and other stakeholders involved in tertiary
education (including private and public
polytechnics and colleges of education)
nationwide.
JAMB released the data following the outcry by
several Nigerians and the National Association of
Nigerian Students (NANS) that it was lowering
standards in the tertiary education sector by
setting 120 as the minimum entry mark for
admission into schools of higher learning, which
represents 30 per cent of the total score of 400.
A review of the information provided by JAMB
showed that of the 293 tertiary institutions in the
country, only five universities – University of
Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), University of Ibadan (UI),
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife,
University of Lagos (Unilag) and University of
Benin (Uniben) – pegged their minimum cut-off
marks at 200 (50 per cent out of a total score of
400), while only the Lagos State University
(LASU), Ojo, among the entire tertiary institutions
set 190 (47.5 per cent) as its cut-off mark.
Also, the data showed that 27 other universities –
private and public – pegged their minimum cut-off
marks at 180 (45 per cent); 22 private universities
fixed their minimum entry marks at 120, while one
has 110 (27.5 per cent) as its cut-off mark.
For instance, most private universities which
included Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State;
Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State; Caled
University, Enugu; Caritas University, Enugu;
Fountain University, Oshogbo; Novena University,
Delta State; Renaissance University, Enugu; and
South-western University, Ogun State, already had
120 as their cut-off mark, respectively.
Others with the same cut-off mark are the Samuel
Adegboyega University; Wellspring University, Edo
State; Summit University, Kwara; Edwin Clark
University, Delta State; Kings University, Osun
State; Arthur Jarvis University, Cross River State;
Clifford University, Abia State; and Coal City
University, Enugu.
Interestingly, in order to attract students, one of
the private universities – Tansian University –
even lowered its minimum score to 110 – below
what was fixed by JAMB.
The reason the private universities selected such
low cut-off marks, according to Benjamin, was to
increase student enrolment in their schools.
“Most students prefer to apply to public
universities and that is why they have issues with
enrolment.
“One hundred and twenty is not the minimum cut-
off mark across board. But it is the one
determined by certain universities. A lot of the
institutions that took 120 as their cut-off mark are
private universities,” Benjamin explained.
However, a source in the National Universities
Commission (NUC) further disclosed that the
reason a lot of private universities had lowered
their entry-level scores was driven by profit.
“As it stands, very few students seek admission
into these private universities because of the low
quality of the teaching faculties, lack of
infrastructure and amenities, and poor research
track records.
“So they are lowering standards to attract more
students, and of course the overriding reason is
the profit motive,” the source volunteered.
However, the JAMB data also showed that a few
private universities, including Afe Babalola
University, Covenant University, Pan-Atlantic
University, Veritas University, Ritman University,
and Oduduwa University, still maintained a higher
minimum score of 180, representing 45 per cent
of the total score of 400.
But older federal universities such as Unilag,
Uniben, OAU and UNN insisted on 200 as their
minimum cut-off mark.
Surprisingly, University of Ilorin (Unilorin), which
several students select as their first choice, has a
cut-off mark of 180, while no information was
provided by JAMB on what the cut-off mark for
Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, the oldest
and once the foremost tertiary institution in
Northern Nigeria would be.
Among the state universities, LASU has the highest
minimum score of 190 as its cut-off mark, which
several of the federal and state universities set at
between 150 and 180.
Furthermore, data on the 2017 Unified Tertiary
Matriculation Examination (UTME) applications
also made available by the JAMB spokesman
revealed that the number of students that selected
private universities was significantly lower than
those that selected federal and state universities.
The data showed that of the 1,718,365 that wrote
the UTME in 2017, less than one per cent (0.69%)
applied for admission into private universities.
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In fact, the combined figure of those that applied
for private universities, private polytechnics,
private colleges of education as well as private
innovative enterprise initiatives was still less than
one per cent (0.8 per cent) of the total amount of
those that wrote UTME in 2017 for tertiary
institutions nationwide.
Conversely, applications into public universities
(federal and state) stood at 96 per cent.
A breakdown of this showed that while
applications into federal universities was 70.5 per
cent (1,212,818), that of state universities was put
at 25 per cent (442,461).
“This showed that Nigerian students and their
parents still have more confidence in the public
university system,” Benjamin explained.
Some of the reasons include quality of the
teaching faculties, facilities, and research, as well
as affordability.
The data also provided by Benjamin put the total
number of students that applied for regularisation
as of August 28, 2017 at 49,426.
Regularisation means students that were not
admitted through JAMB, but through remedial and
diploma programmes in the respective institutions.
Auchi Polytechnic, with 3,060 had the highest
number of applicants seeking regularisation, Kogi
State Polytechnic, had 970 of such cases and
Kwara State Polytechnic, 940.
Most of the universities had fewer of such cases.
The JAMB spokesman explained that the
regularisation list is updated regularly as more
applications come in.
The data by JAMB further revealed that Unilorin
was the university of first choice in 2017, as it had
the highest number of students that applied for it
in the UTME with 104,038 applications.
This represented nine per cent of the 1,212,818
UTME applications into Nigerian federal
universities in 2017.
Benjamin said students seeking admission into
universities considered academic stability,
popularity, affordability, available facilities and
quality of lecturers as part of their checklist before
making choices in their applications.
Unilorin was closely followed by ABU, Zaria, with
89,688 applications, Uniben with 85,486
applications, UNN with 79,073 and Unilag with
78,899, in that order.
Among the state universities, LASU had the
highest number of applications with 36,119,
followed by Kaduna State University – 28,914, and
Delta State University – 28,672.
Among private universities, Covenant University,
with 2,438 had the highest number of applications;
it was closely followed by Babcock University –
1,599 and Afe Babalola University – 1,455.
But even as JAMB churned out data to justify the
low cut-off marks selected by several tertiary
institutions, NANS Wednesday called on the board
to stop what it described as baseless and fruitless
efforts to justify a very unpopular policy, adding
that Nigerian students had vowed to vehemently
resist it.
While reacting to a statement by Benjamin on
Monday, the NANS President, Mr. Chinonso Obasi,
said that JAMB’s claim that the downward review
of the cut-off mark was to stop the quest for
foreign education, was unacceptable.
Describing the board’s excuses and explanations
as “ridiculous”, Obasi stated that evidence had
shown that the worst students in Nigeria usually
turn out to be the best students abroad because of
the enabling educational policies, teaching
facilities, quality of teachers and consistency in
study time.
According to him, “Students’ ability to learn and
come out with outstanding performances are a
function of the enabling environment that is
deliberately created by responsible and responsive
policies like what obtains abroad and not
retroactive and retrogressive policies like what
JAMB is trying to push.”
Obasi stated that only the children of the rich
school abroad, and so JAMB was insinuating that
the children of the rich are brainless and cannot
compete with the children of the poor who
patronise local tertiary institutions.
The NANS president called on JAMB to work with
stakeholders to explore and find lasting solutions
to the challenges facing the Nigerian education
sector that would facilitate effective and efficient
learning rather than embarking on an inglorious
exercise of reviewing the cut-off mark.
He insisted that at a time the nation should be
thinking of improving the prospects of competitive
learning, in line with the dictates of contemporary
times, JAMB was looking at lowering standards to
encourage indolence and ineptitude.
“JAMB’s position is certainly not in the interest of
the growth of education in the country and the
future of young people in the country,” he said.
Obasi also regretted the recent unfortunate fire
incident that occurred at the female hostel of the
Plateau State Polytechnic, Jos campus, and
condole with the students and management of the
institution.
However, Benjamin explained that his statement
on Monday on Nigerian students seeking university
education overseas was in reference to higher
institutions in other African and sometimes Asian
countries, where some of the tertiary institutions
of choice are far below Nigerian and globally
accepted education standards.